Who You Really Are
by BrittzandTana
Summary: Emily knows all about Alison DiLaurentis. She's the resident bad girl of Rosewood, PA, and she's heard about all of the things she's done. But when Emily meets Alison for the first time, the girl she was sure she knew is a lot different than she expected. EMISON STORY! EMILY/ALISON! ENDGAME! M for mild themes. AU! :) - Reposted :)
1. Chapter 1

_**READ THIS! IMPORTANT! As some of you already know, this story was removed on Friday due to the fact the summary said the word "bitch" and was not G Rated. The entire story was removed, but I had every chapter still saved in my Fanfiction Doc Manager - with all of my A/Ns. Therefore, as I repost this story (Sunday August 17th - story was originally posted August 3rd), I will post it with all of the same author notes that were up originally. This means that all of my review shoutouts will still be in the notes. Obviously, my reviews are gone, though. I was mostly disappointed about the loss of feedback, since I was determined for this story to pass Let Me Love You in the number of reviews. It would mean the absolute world to me if you some of you would drop a couple of reviews on this reposted version of this story. Maybe you'll want to reread it anyway to refresh c: Anyway, I'm sorry for the inconvenience. And without further ado, here is Who You Really Are the second time around.**** ;)**_

**A/N: New Story! =D I know, I'm insane.**

**So hi! I'm Tana, if you didn't already know that! I'm kind of insane ;) and I love to write FF. This will be my 18th story up on FF. This is my 4th Emison fic, if you include the 1 shot that I posted. You might know me from LMLY or RIMS :)**

**Anyway, let's lay down some stuff!**

**Italics are thoughts and flashbacks!**

**Bolds are texts and emails!**

**This story is in 1st person, and it'll mostly be in Emily's POV. Sometimes, though, I think twice so far, it'll be in Ali's POV. I probably won't toss the POV to any of the other characters, but if I need to, maybe. The switch will be signified by the person's initials... e.g, _AAA_ or _EEE_.**

**I'm a few chapters ahead of what I'm posting at any given moment, so if you give me suggestions to put in the FF, they may not be put in due to me being ahead. However, PLEASE feel free to give me suggestions on what you want to see!**

**So the updates for this story will hopefully be relatively often, but I have four other stories going right now (one of them I've already finished writing so kind of just three others), but I will update every time I finish a new chapter! Also, just as a note, while I do appreciate reviews very much, I don't wait for a certain amount before updating. Just thought I'd throw that in here :) Also, I give shoutouts to ever 50 reviewers... 50th, 100th, 150th... etc etc, you get the idea!**

**That's all I have to say :P I hope you like this first chapter!**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own PLL!**

**PLEASE enjoy, favorite, follow and REVIEW!**

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Rosewood, Pennsylvania was a small town, and like most small towns, almost everyone knew everyone. Sure, some of the people you passed in the supermarket were absolute strangers, but most of time, the faces were reoccurring. Aside from that, everyone knew who _those_ people were. Everyone knew which college girl was the one who couldn't help but tell lies. Everyone knew which college girl was the top of the social pyramid in every aspect. Everyone knew which college girl was the biggest bitch. Everyone knew which college girl could get everything she wanted without even trying.

The difference was that in Rosewood, those four girls were all rolled into one girl, Alison DiLaurentis.

Everyone, including me, had heard about the girl more than once. Almost everyone who went to Hollis wanted to be her or date her, and there were only a select few who felt like I did. I hated her guts. I'd never spoken to her personally, and I hadn't even seen her before. We didn't have any classes together, and we'd gone to different high schools. I had no idea who she was, besides all of the things I'd heard about her. The kind of wreckage she caused to people and things.

That's why when I saw her for the first time, I had no idea what I was in for.

I was working at a clothing store near the college, where I'd been working for all of a week. I'd seen a lot of familiar faces pass through the store, and it seemed that Hollis students were people who came to the store the most. I worked the checkout stand, so I'd gotten a good look at pretty much everyone who had come in for the week I'd been working there. Therefore, when I saw a girl with curly, golden hair walk into the store, I knew that I hadn't seen her before.

From my empty checkout counter, I watched her walk into the store alone and start looking at some plain clothes. Judging by the clothes she was wearing at the moment, she didn't usually shop for the plain clothes that this clothing store sold. Why was she here then?

I felt myself slightly interested in what this mysterious girl was doing in this boring store, and I watched her pull one of the fanciest blouses we had off of one of the racks. It was blue.

She started walking toward me, toward the checkout counter, and I immediately averted my eyes and pretended to be doing something interesting on my phone.

"Hi," the girl said in an expectant voice, and I glanced up as though I were surprised that she'd approached me. I cleared my throat a little.

"You ready to check out?" I asked her. She shook her head, and I raised an eyebrow, waiting for her to tell me what exactly she was doing here.

"I need this in yellow," the blonde stated, gesturing to the blouse she was carrying.

"Sorry, whatever is on the rack is all we have. I think that one only comes in black and blue," I told her with a shrug. The blonde huffed and held the shirt out in front of her.

"I really need it in a lighter color," she stated.

I pursed my lips. "Well, you could always try different store."

"I don't have time, that's why I came here," the blonde snapped, as though it should be obvious that she would never usually come into this place.

"Why do you need it so quickly?" I asked, walking out from behind the counter and heading to check for the storage. I was almost positive that there wasn't a yellow shirt of that kind, but I didn't really have a choice but to check. It was, after all, my job. "You going on a date?"

"Please," the girl said sarcastically with a snort, "I wouldn't wear anything from this place on a _date_."

"So what's it for?" I asked, writing off the fact that most of my clothes came from small stores like this.

"A friend," the blonde answered, following me into the storage room as if she had all of the right in the world. I decided not to stop her, because I had a feeling that she would come up with some way to stay in there anyway. "Her birthday party is tonight, and I forgot to get her a present."

"Last minute birthday presents are always best," I muttered sarcastically.

"Hey, it's not my fault that I was too busy to shop earlier in the week," the girl snapped at me. My back was turned to her, so I rolled my eyes. I checked the area where those blouses would be. I found a pink one of a little bit different style, but nothing yellow.

"All I have is the black and blue, and this," I told the blonde, turning around with the pink shirt.

She huffed and grabbed the pink blouse from me, instead shoving the blue shirt she'd been carrying in my hand. "It'll have to do. I'm ready to check out." She rushed out of the storage room, which gave me time to manage another eye roll. This girl was a bitch.

I set the blue shirt on the counter, making a mental note to return it to the hanger later, and took the pink shirt from the crazy ass blonde. I rung it up and gave her the price. She handed me a credit card and, as I swiped it, I couldn't help but read the signature on the side of the card. In a neat cursive writing, was the name _Alison DiLaurentis_.

I glanced up at the blonde and slid her card back across the counter. "Alison DiLaurentis? You go to Hollis right?"

"That's right. Now give me my receipt so I can go, I'm almost late," Alison demanded.

I tried not to roll my eyes as I pulled her freshly printed receipt out of the machine and handed it to her. "We can't have that, can we?"

Alison narrowed her eyes at me and picked up her shirt. Without even muttering some kind of thank you for finding her an oh so important lighter colored shirt, she spun around and stormed her way out of the store.

Clearly, the well known Alison DiLaurentis was just as people said she was. Impatient, bitchy, demanding, snobby. Also gorgeous and over perfect. As I watched her exit the store, she sent me one last glare. I rolled my eyes for a third time. Despite her attitude, I couldn't help but find her kind of hilarious. Anyone who acted that way was sort of laughable.

I went on with my day like anyone would, normally. Despite what so many people thought of her, I knew that I saw Alison for who she really was. A conceited, bitchy, rich girl who thought it was okay to treat everyone like shit.

Luckily, unless she was late to every birthday party she was invited to, I would likely never have to see her again. There wasn't a point in thinking about her any longer.

After work, I drove back to my dorm, where my roommate and best friend, Aria Montgomery, was diligently doing her English homework. "Hey," I greeted as I walked in, tossing my purse onto my bed.

"Hey, how was work?" Aria wondered, not looking up from her computer.

"Boring, as always. Although, I did meet the famous Alison DiLaurentis," I stated, rolling my eyes as I said the word famous.

"Ugh, try infamous," Aria muttered. She and I were definitely on the same page when it came to what we thought of Alison. "But wait, why was she at that place? Doesn't she only shop in the big, expensive stores?"

"Last minute birthday gift for one of her many friends," I answered, flopping down onto my bed.

Aria glanced over at me and we both rolled our eyes. "More like her admirers. She has to keep them interested in her, or she has nothing but haters."

"You should've seen her in the store. She didn't say one nice word to me, even though I went back into the storage closet to find her a shirt," I muttered, rolling my eyes again. "Not even a thank you."

"Don't act so surprised," Aria said, before reminding me, "she is, after all, the biggest bitch at Hollis."

"Try the biggest bitch in Rosewood," I corrected. "How's your paper going?"

"It's not," Aria admitted, looking back at her computer. "I can't get past this last paragraph. It's like I've said everything I need to say, but I don't know how to conclude it all."

"Can't you just restate your thesis?" Aria was the big English nerd, and I was majoring in finance and business, but I remembered a few things from my basics English class in my first year of college.

"There isn't a thesis, it's not an expository or a persuasive," Aria reminded me.

"Oh," I said, shrugging, "sorry."

"Don't worry about it," she answered, sighing. "I'll do it later. I still have a couple of days."

"How about in the meantime, we invite Hanna over and have some pizza?" I suggested.

"Sounds like a plan. You order, I'll run over and get Hanna," Aria agreed, jumping up. Hanna's dorm roommate was a total stuck up bitch, so when we all hung out, she came over to our dorm. It wasn't the biggest hassle, she was only a floor below us.

Hanna and Aria returned a few minutes after I ordered the pizza, and Hanna flopped down next to Aria on her bed and we started talking about our day. The three of us were so familiar with one another— we'd known each other since freshman year of high school and we'd been best friends ever since, just the three of us.

"So you know what I heard?" Hanna said after a little while. I wasn't surprised that she was the first one to bring up any gossip.

"What?" Aria and I asked her, already intrigued. Hanna always had the best gossip for some reason.

"Alison DiLaurentis was _late_ to one of her _friend's_ parties today, and the bitch friend got so mad that she kicked Alison out of the party. Just uninvited her like that," Hanna stated, quirking up her eyebrow. "I heard that Alison yelled some pretty harsh things at her and made the girl cry, but she still left." Aria and I exchanged a glance. "What? Am I missing something?"

"Alison came into the store today and was buying a blouse last minute for that friend," I explained, shrugging.

"Whoa, you actually talked to Alison DiLaurentis?" Hanna demanded.

"Don't sound so impressed, Han," Aria discouraged, furrowing her eyebrows. "This girl is a bitch. She's not some goddess."

Hanna rolled her eyes. "I know that, but she's like the center of every gossip story. She's like one of those horrible celebrities that everyone hates, and even though everyone does hate them, they still get some sort of pride when they meet them."

"Well trust me, I have no pride," I insisted, rolling my eyes. "I went out of my way to help her find a shirt and she didn't even say thank you."

"Did you say something rude to her?" Hanna questioned.

"Yeah, once I found out it was her I just said something sarcastic about her not being able to be late to the party she was going to," I answered.

Now, Aria and Hanna exchanged glances.

"What?" I demanded.

"Are you working tomorrow?" Aria questioned. I answered with just a nod. "Well, you know she's going to come back tomorrow to return that shirt, right?"

"We don't know that," I argued, shaking my head. "Maybe she'll keep it."

"Alison DiLaurentis keeping a shirt from a place that isn't a big named clothing store?" Hanna asked with a snort. "Come on, Em, you're smart than that."

"Well what do I care if she comes and returns the shirt?" I demanded.

"I'd just watch out if I were you," Aria advised.

"Yeah, if you said something to her about being late, and then all of that shit happened when she did end up late… well, she does have a bit of a temper," Hanna reminded me. "Just be careful, alright? Stand your ground."

"You two are crazy. Nothing weird is going to happen tomorrow, whether Alison comes into the store or not," I stated. There was a knock on the door, and I got up to retrieve the pizza. As I was facing away from my friends, I bit my lip nervously. What if Alison did get really mad at me or something? It was thing not to know Alison, and one thing to have just met her once, but no one wanted to be on her bad side. And as much as I hated her, I needed to be on her good side or on no side.

I wasn't going to have my life disappear from under me courtesy of a raging Alison DiLaurentis.

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**OMG!**

**Did you all like it?! I hope you did, because first chapters are always meh when I write them so I hope it was decent haha :P I think you all will like this story =) Anyway, please review your thoughts! Or you can PM me, if reviewing isn't you thing! ALSO, please follow me on Twitter at BrittzandTana ! Tweet me that you read this and I shall follow you back! =D**

**So I'm going to try and update this and RIMS and CD tomorrow =) Probably no more updates today, I'm kinda busy like I'm at my sister's place and we're setting up for my nephew's bday party soon so i'll be super busy ya know lol.**

**So yeah my baby nephew is like attacking my laptop so have no more to say :P Have a good day everyone! Love you all! Please review ;)**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Just a note that I forgot to mention... I know that Hollis is a liberal arts school, but I'm changing it so that it's more like a regular community college thing or something ya know? Lol yeah okay. Thank you all for your feedback, by the way. It means a lot to me!**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own PLL!**

**PLEASE enjoy, favorite, follow and REVIEW!**

* * *

The next day, after my morning Hollis class, I found myself standing behind the counter at work, playing a game on my phone. I'd been there for about an hour, and so far, nothing interesting had happened. A few people had come in and bought some clothes, but nothing weird had happened. Basically, no Alison.

The store was mostly empty when I heard the door suddenly open. I glanced up, like I did when every customer came in, and saw familiar, curly, blond hair. Alison. She was carrying the pink blouse, and she had a somewhat distant expression on her face.

She approached the counter and her eyes suddenly met mine, and I realized that I'd been staring at her since she walked in. She set the shirt on the counter. "Did your friend not like the shirt?" I asked, even though I knew what had happened.

"I didn't end up going," Alison stated, her voice not as harsh as I'd expected it to be.

I raised my eyebrows as I began to return and refund process. "I heard you got kicked out for being late."

To my surprise, Alison let out a sigh. "Everyone always does."

"Does what?" I asked, a little confused, as I opened the cash register to get her the refund money.

"Hears about things that happen to me," Alison answered simply. "Everyone always know."

I felt a little guilty all of the sudden. "Well, the only reason I heard anything was because one of my friends is the like the biggest gossip at Hollis."

"Do you go to Hollis?" Alison asked me, seeming to just shrug off the topic of gossip.

"Yep," I answered, nodding. I closed the cash register and counted the money obviously in front of her, since that was what we were supposed to do when returning money or change. Then I set it down on the counter and took the shirt off the counter and started to put it on a hanger that I had sitting next to me.

"Thanks," she said, collecting the money. I was a little surprised at the thanks. "Oh, by the way, I'm really sorry for acting like a bitch yesterday."

I blinked and raised an eyebrow at her. I definitely hadn't been expecting that apology. "Don't worry about it."

"No, really," Alison insisted. "You even went into the storage room to try and find a shirt that you knew didn't exist. So thanks."

"It's no problem," I insisted, and I cursed myself internally as I felt my cheeks heat up a little bit.

"Anyway, thanks for the refund and sorry about yesterday. I better get going," Alison said, nodding to me. I nodded back, and she turned around a started off. However, halfway on her way to the door, she turned back around. "Hey, I don't think I got your name?"

I blinked. "Emily."

"Emily," she repeated, and then she smiled at me. My eyes probably widened by a tenfold seeing that smile, but she turned around and walked out of the store anyway, which meant that she hadn't seen my bugging eyes. I got a thanks, an apology, and a smile out of the _bitchiest, _most _arrogant_ girl in all of Pennsylvania.

I looked down at the pink blouse in my hands and shook my head. Whatever had just happened was way weirder than whatever Hanna and Aria had been expecting. Pushing away whatever was going through my mind about this, I went and hung the pink shirt up on a rack, instead of back in the storage room.

When my shift was over, I immediately headed back to my dorm. When I got there, Aria was waiting for me expectantly. "So, did Alison show up?"

"Yep," I answered, walking over and sitting on my bed. Aria turned around on her own bed to face me.

"And? Did she bite your head off?" Aria demanded.

"No," I answered, shrugging. "She just returned the shirt."

"She didn't say _anything_ to you about your comment yesterday?" Aria asked, sounding absolutely flabbergasted.

I shook my head no, which was the truth. I didn't really feel that it was necessary to mention any of the nice things that Alison had said, though, because Aria would obviously just remind me of the fact that Alison always had a motive for being nice. I already had enough suspicion for the both of us, so I didn't really need to bring that part up.

"That's crazy! Maybe she was actually embarrassed about what had happened or something. So you're totally off the hook?" Aria asked, sounding like she just wanted to clarify.

"Definitely," I answered with a nod. "I'm tired, and I have an early class tomorrow. I'm going to head to bed."

"Are you alright?" Aria asked. "It's like seven."

"I'm fine."

"Well are you hungry? Because we have some leftover pizza in the mini fridge," Aria reminded me, sounding concerned despite my insistence that I was perfectly fine.

"I'm not that hungry. I'm really tired, okay? My class this morning was really stressful, and I have multiple classes tomorrow, so I'm going to sleep. You can leave the lights on, I'll sleep fine," I told her, laying down on my bed, even though I was fully clothed and still had makeup on. I just felt oddly worn out and confused.

"I'll turn them off. I think Hanna said that her roommate was out tonight, so I'll just go down there so that I don't bother you," Aria said, looking at me weird. I nodded and closed my eyes. A few seconds later, I heard the lights flick off and the door open and close.

_AAA_

"Are you okay, Ali?" my roommate and friend, Spencer Hastings, asked me, her voice sounding concerned.

"No, I am _pissed_ at Mona," I growled, sitting up on my bed. "_Everybody_ heard about yesterday, and the only part anyone remembers is that I got kicked out of _Mona's_ party because I was a few minutes late. That bitch is always trying to think of ways to screw with me."

"You'll survive, Alison," Spencer stated, rolling her eyes at me. I glared in her direction, but she was looking too intently at her computer screen to notice. Sometimes, Spencer drove me insane. She was a lot like me in the way that she took no nonsense, and despite the fact that it made me get frustrated with her all the time, it was also the reason that we were so close. She was less popular than me, and she was nicer as well, but she had been my best friend since high school.

"What are you doing over there anyway? Homework?" I asked.

"An essay," Spencer answered. "There's this girl named Aria in my English class this year, and she and I are sort of competing for the highest grade."

"Is it all friendly, or do I need to take this girl down a peg?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I don't know yet," Spencer answered. "She scored the highest in her class last year, and so did I in my class. Now we're in the same one."

"Why does it even matter? It's not like you're in high school competing for the college scholarship," I stated, rolling my eyes. Spencer shot me a look that asked if I was serious, and I just shrugged. Spencer was the crazy about school girl, not me. "Well, I hope you win anyway."

"Thanks," Spencer muttered, tapping away furiously at her keyboard. "Did you return that shirt you were going to give to Mona?"

"Yep," I answered.

"Did you survive going into that place again?" Spencer teased. Spencer was the kind of person who would shop at those tiny little clothing stores if it weren't for me. I drug her out shopping to the big places with me.

"Yes, surprisingly," I answered, groaning. Suddenly, a picture of that girl who worked at the cash register—Emily—popped into my head. I had barely even looked at her the previous day, because I'd been in such a bad mood, but today I'd almost felt bad for how I'd spoken to her. I even apologized, which was totally out of character for me. In fact, I was still wondering why I'd done it, and why I'd asked for the girl's name afterward. Emily. So far, all I knew about her was that she went to Hollis and she worked at a lame clothing store.

My phone suddenly started to ring, and I grabbed it instantly. Mona, the she-devil herself. I huffed and answered it. "What do you want, Mona?"

"Hey, Ali!" came the innocent voice that Mona used when she was trying to cover up all of the horrible things she'd done. "I thought that it was about time that we made up."

"About time?" I growled. "This happened yesterday, and you're the one who got all mad at me."

"Look, all of the things you yelled at me are really hurting my image. If we walk into class tomorrow side by side, everyone will assume that we made up, and everything will be fine," Mona insisted.

"I am fine," I lied. "You are a terrible person, Mona, and I'm done going back and forth with you." I hung up and looked up to see Spencer looking at me with a raised eyebrow.

"I think you just woke a sleeping beast," Spencer stated.

"Oh please. It's Mona," I muttered, rolling my eyes. "The only reason she even has an image at all is because I gave it to her. If I wanted, I could tear it away just as easily."

"So why haven't you? Don't you want to?" Spencer asked pointedly, and I scowled at her.

"I'm going to take a shower," I muttered, standing up. I grabbed what I needed to shower and then left the dorm and headed down to the bathroom.

_EEE_

The next morning, I was up early getting ready for my classes. Aria got up about ten minutes before I was going to leave. Her first class wasn't for a while, but she had to finish up her paper. Apparently, she was unofficially competing for the highest grade, and she had to perfect it.

"Hey, do you want to grab lunch after your first class and before mine?" Aria asked before I left.

"Sure. The Grille?" I asked, and she answered with a nod.

"See you later!"

My class was as boring as hell, and by the time I left, I was eager for lunch time. Aria was already sitting at a table at the Grille by the time I got there, and Hanna was there, too, which was a surprise. "Hey, Han!" I greeted. "Hey, Aria!"

"Hey, Em!" they chorused. Then Aria asked, "How was your class?"

"Boring. Did you finish your paper?" I asked, sitting down at the table and grabbing the menu sitting in front of me.

"Yes I did. I've got it in the bag. That Spencer girl is going down," Aria growled.

"Spencer?" Hanna asked. "Hastings? That's who you're competing with?"

"Yeah, why?" Aria asked, sounding concerned.

"She was top of her class last year," Hanna answered, shrugging.

"Yeah well, I was at the top of mine," Aria reminded her.

Hanna nodded. "She's also Alison DiLaurentis' best friend." Aria bit her lip a little nervously, but I rolled my eyes.

"Nothing it going to happen," I said. "You were already wrong about what Alison would do once."

"Yeah, but that was a special case," Hanna stated. "She was probably just plotting a murder or something."

"That isn't funny, Hanna," Aria said, rolling her eyes. Hanna smirked and shrugged. A waitress approached us and we ordered our food.

When the waitress left, Aria muttered, "Ugh, speak of the devil." I turned around to look at the entrance of the Grille, and my eyes caught on Alison. She was walking in with a brunette that I wasn't sure I'd seen before. I pinned the name Spencer on her.

Suddenly, Alison saw me and quirked up an eyebrow at me. My eyes widened and I spun my head back around. "What was that?" Hanna asked me. I just shrugged.

"You said she didn't say anything to you yesterday?" Aria asked.

"That's what I said," I confirmed, biting my lip. "Whatever."

"Is something up with you, Em?" Hanna asked me, and I shrugged.

"Nope, I'm fine," I assured her. "I just was pretty sure that she would completely forget I even exist."

Aria and Hanna exchanged looks that I couldn't read, and I just ignored them. They could think whatever they wanted, but I was completely fine. My heart totally hadn't started beating faster when Alison raised that eyebrow at me, and the idea that she still knew that I existed totally didn't get me excited or anything. I knew better than to have things like that happen to me, didn't I? From the first time I came out as gay to anyone, I had promised myself that I wouldn't ever start liking anyone that I didn't know for sure was gay.

Hanna and Aria had started talking about something else, and I glanced behind me again at Alison. She was standing and talking to Spencer, and then her eye caught mine and she flashed me a smile. I swallowed thickly and just looked away. What the hell was happening to me?

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**Whoa whoa what is this twist? :P**

**Likee? Lovee? Hate with a passion? I hope you'll let me know in a quick review or a PM! Also, please follow me on Twitter at BrittzandTana ! Tweet me that you read this and I'll FOLLOW YOU BACK =D**

**So today I was in the car for like four hours so I'm really tired and I have a headache so probably no RIMS update today, but definitely tomorrow! I think I'm going to head to sleep soon actually, headaches are evil and they don't ever go away for me until I sleep lol.**

**Anyway... goodnight lovelies! Please review :)**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: I think this story has received the biggest initial response of any of my FFs so far... I have to check up on that to confirm it, but 32 reviews on two chapters? Wow. You guys are seriously amazing.**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own PLL!**

**PLEASE enjoy, favorite, follow and REVIEW!**

* * *

It was later that same day, Wednesday, that I saw Alison again. Seeing her at the Grille was something completely unusual. I knew that Hanna and Aria had both seen Alison around, but the first time I'd ever seen her was at work, and seeing her anywhere else was totally obscure.

Therefore, I naturally assumed that I wouldn't ever see her again. I forced myself to forget about that eyebrow quirk and those smiles.

And then later, while I was working the register, the door opened just as the shopping rush was dying down, and I looked up to see the incoming customer. And it was Alison DiLaurentis.

I didn't even try to conceal the fact that I was staring hard at her as she approached the counter. "Another late birthday present to buy?" I asked casually, hoping that it didn't come off as too rude.

"Nope," Alison answered.

"Well I know you're not here to buy yourself something," I stated, once again hoping that I wasn't sounding rude. Had she not apologized and thanked me earlier in the week, I probably would've purposely been sounding really rude. After all, I sort of hated the bitch… and I still did… right?

"You know, I don't think you like me very much," Alison observed. I raised my eyebrows at her.

"Oh really?" I asked dryly.

"You know, the gossip vine can be pretty harsh," Alison stated, placing her hands on the edge of the counter across from me.

"Are you here to try to dispel the gossip?" I asked.

"No," Alison answered, rolling her eyes.

I raised an eyebrow. "So why are you here, then?"

"Well, I was utterly bored," Alison answered, sounding strangely honest.

"So you came here to talk to me?" I asked, dumbfounded.

Alison shrugged. "Anyway, I was saying, not everything they say about me is true. And even when it is, they always leave out the parts where I'm not a bitch."

"I'm sure they do," I agreed sarcastically.

Alison gave me a challenging glare. "I'm not as horrible of a person as they all want everyone to think."

"Are you kidding? Ninety-nine percent of this town is either in love with you or wants to be you," I muttered.

"So which are you?" Alison asked, raising an overly perfect eyebrow.

I narrowed my eyes at her. "I'm the one percent who knows that you're a self centered bitch."

Alison huffed and crossed her arms over her chest. "You just met me on Monday."

"Sweetie, you can learn a lot about people without knowing them," I stated.

"Did you just call me sweetie?" Alison growled. She huffed. "Look, I have no idea why I'm here. I was supposed to have a date tonight, but the guy canceled on me after I got kicked out of Mona's party. I'm pretty sure she did it _just_ so I would lose the date. Anyway, my best friend is in a class, and I'd honestly rather hang around someone who hates me than someone who is obsessed with me."

"Why?" I asked, actual confusion lacing my voice.

"Because those people are annoying as hell. I'm not that special. Sure, the attention can be nice sometimes, but when everyone wants you to talk to them all the time, it gets pretty damn annoying," she stated.

"I'm sorry that you have to go through that," I told her sarcastically. She ignored my comment and looked me up and down, and I tried not to make it obvious that it made me uncomfortable.

"You know, that blue blouse I saw in here the other day would look really good on you," she stated.

Just like she ignored my comment, I ignored hers. "So, your best friend, that's Spencer Hastings, right?"

"Yeah," Alison answered slowly, looking at me cautiously as if I was about to say something hateful to her.

"She's competing against my best friend for the highest grade in their English class," I told the blonde.

"Oh," Alison stated, blinking. "That's Aria, right?"

"Yeah," I answered, nodding.

"Is she the friend you mentioned was a big gossiper?" Alison asked warily, but I shook my head.

"No," I answered. "That's a different friend." Alison just nodded, and I suddenly felt bad about being rude to her a few minutes prior. "I'm sorry."

Alison looked at me with a raised eyebrow. "What are you sorry for?"

"I don't hate you," I said, because suddenly, I didn't. She had been nice to me yesterday. Maybe she was right. Maybe people made gossip sound a lot worse than things actually were. "I mean… you're right, I don't really know you. I just hear all the gossip and I assume it's all true."

"Some of it is," Alison admitted, shrugging. "But what's life without a little drama?"

"Drama is too much work sometimes," I told her, and she quirked up an eyebrow at me. I was starting to like it when she did that. It was actually hot, but the minute that thought crossed my mind, I silently cursed myself for even trying to think it.

"Maybe," Alison agreed. "But that doesn't mean that it can't be fun."

I shrugged. "I'll leave the drama to you."

Alison smiled, and my heart rate sped up involuntarily. I bit down on my tongue, trying to calm myself down. "So," Alison said, "since you don't hate me entirely, why don't you come to my birthday party on Saturday?"

I blinked, totally blindsided by that. "Your birthday is this weekend?"

She nodded, smiling. "Finally twenty-one, thank goodness. Since it seems that everyone turned twenty-one before me, the party is at the local club. First time I'll be able to go to one using my legitimate ID."

"Uh, sure, I'll come," I agreed. "Can I bring my friends?"

"Of course," Alison said, nodding surely. "Maybe that way Spencer and Aria can meet properly before they destroy each other in that English class."

I couldn't help but laugh at that, and Alison smiled proudly. "You know, you're a lot different than I thought you'd be," I told her. "I kind of thought that you're always like… the way you were when you bought that pink shirt."

Alison suddenly dropped her gaze. "I am, usually."

I blinked, a little surprised. So, did that mean that she was acting differently around me? "It doesn't seem like that."

"Well…" Alison trailed off, and then her phone started to ring. She snatched it from her pocket and answered. "What?" she snapped into the phone, and I raised an eyebrow at her. "Well what do you want me to do about it? No, I'm not going to do that. Hey, I was kidding before! _Yes_ I was! Look, I'll see you in a little bit, okay? No, I'm shopping. No, I'm just about to leave, you don't have to come. Yes. Okay, see you in a few." She hung up and then looked up at me.

"Who was that?" I asked curiously.

"Spencer," Alison answered, shrugging. "She lost the competition between her and Aria, and she is flipping shit right now. I think she's going to throw a conniption fit."

I tried not to smirk.

Alison rolled her eyes at me, because my smirk obviously wasn't as hidden as I thought it was. "I had previously told Spencer that I would knock Aria down a few pegs if she won, but now that I know she's your friend, I won't."

My eyebrow knitted together slightly. Now that she knew Aria was my friend? What was so special about me? Why was Alison acting so different around me.

"Anyway, I should probably go and calm down the raging Hastings that's waiting at my dorm," Alison said. "I'll see you on Saturday, right?"

"Right," I agreed, nodding, and Alison turned and left the store. As soon as she was gone, I blinked. What the hell had just happened? The entire conversation seemed sort of like a blur now. All I knew for sure was that was way too excited for her birthday this weekend.

On my way back to the dorms, I called Hanna and told her to head to me and Aria's dorm. When I got there, they were both there, waiting to see why exactly I needed them both there so quickly. "You guys are never going to believe this," I told them as I walked in.

"Did you win the lotto?" Hanna asked, grinning, and I shook my head.

"We're going to Alison DiLaurentis' party on Saturday night," I stated. Aria and Hanna exchanged surprised glances.

"Um, why? How?" Aria asked.

"I was invited," I answered, shrugging.

"No offense, but who invited you?" Hanna demanded.

I shrugged again. "Someone who came into the store earlier. I don't know her name, but I've seen her hang around Alison sometimes. I guess she has enough authority in the party management to invite people. She told me I could bring a couple of people."

"So one of Alison DiLaurentis' many minions just decided to invite you to her twenty-first birthday party?" Hanna asked, sounding doubtful.

"Is that so hard to believe?" I asked.

"Of course not," Aria said quickly, "but are you _sure_ that we can be there? I don't want anything bad to happen if we go. We're not exactly the most cool people in Rosewood, Em."

"I promise, it'll be fine," I swore. "You two aren't going to make me go alone, are you?"

"Well, if you're sure," Hanna said, and then she grinned excitedly. "This is the perfect time for me to break out one of my gorgeous party dresses!" The blonde disappeared from our dorm, and Aria and I exchanged concerned looks.

"She's going to be planning her outfit every night until Saturday," Aria stated, and we both started laughing at the truth of the statement.

"So, how did that competition go?" I asked my best friend, pretending like I didn't already know the outcome.

Aria smiled proudly. "I won. Not by much. Our professor told me that my essay had just the perfect amount of everything. I guess Miss Perfect Spencer left out something."

I chuckled and shook my head. "You're not worried about what Alison might do about that, right?"

Aria shrugged. "What can she do?"

I nodded in agreement, because I'd rather Aria not be expecting something from Alison, since I knew that Alison wasn't going to try anything. I was still a little confused about the whole situation anyway, but I wasn't about to start asking Alison any detailed questions.

"So, that random girl inviting you to Alison's party was the only interesting thing that happened today?" Aria asked curiously.

"Yep," I answered, flashing her a half smile. "I guess work is going back to normal."

"Well, I wouldn't call going to a party hosted by a DiLaurentis and a Hastings _normal_, but it works," Aria said teasingly, shrugging. "What are you going to wear?"

"I'll pick something," I answered, shrugging. "Do we still have leftover pizza? I'm starving."

"Yep, there's a couple pieces."

We had cold pizza for dinner and then we talked until we were both too tired, and we crashed in our beds.

The next few days went by slowly and lamely, without anything interesting. Hanna did spend every spare moment she had talking about and planning her Saturday outfit. If Hanna had a little more confidence, she could really be just as popular as Alison DiLaurentis. She had the looks, the style, and the gossip.

Come Saturday, we all spent the day hanging out. I kept up the story about some random girl inviting us, and I just hoped that Alison didn't approach us during the party, or that story would be whipped away and the girls would realize that I'd lied to them. I was just afraid that my friends might not understand why I suddenly didn't hate Alison DiLaurentis anymore. I wasn't even sure myself, though, so really, who was I kidding?

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**Yeah so, that conversation between Ali and Em was probably really weird and strange but you gotta remember that Ali and Em are both trying to figure out what they think of the other..**

**Sooo... like? Love? Hate? Please let me know in a quick review or PM! Also, please follow me on Twitter at BrittzandTana ! Tweet me that you read this and I will follow you back!**

**So I woke up at 2PM and the only reason that I even updated this today was because I did something productive and felt proud of myself so then here I am :P**

**Anyway, have a great day lovelies! Please review!**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Here you all go :) Y'all are so funny haha... first of all, thank you all SO MUCH for all of the reviews! I am in awe of how much you already love this story! The reason I said that you guys are all so funny, though, is because all the reviews stopped at 49 :P So yeah, next reviewer gets a shoutout! :D**

**Okay just kidding, I was about to post this and I saw that I got the 50th review. You're lucky I saw that, bc I hadn't even got the email for it yet... lol... anyway, shoutout to the guest reviewer xEmisonx who was the 50th reviewer to this story! If you're someone on Twitter who saw my tweet about jumping over here to be the 50th reviewer than good job xP If not, well... thank you so much anyway hahaha =D So glad you like this story! Thank you all for reviewing!**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own PLL!**

**PLEASE enjoy, favorite, follow and REVIEW!**

* * *

We walked into the club together, side by side, flashing our IDs at the bouncer. The place was way more crowded than it usually was, which made sense, since probably half of Hollis was there. "I wonder if they have a tab open. Like, are our drinks all paid for?" Hanna asked.

"Don't get drunk, Hanna," I argued.

"Oh come on, Em, it's a party!" Hanna exclaimed. "I'll go check about that with the bartender."

"She won't last long," Aria muttered as we watched Hanna weaving through the crowd and heading toward the bar. I looked at Aria, and saw that her eyes had strayed from Hanna, though, over to someone else. I followed her gaze and my eye caught on a guy who I was pretty sure was going for his masters degree. That meant that he was a few years older than us.

"Go talk to him," I suggested.

Aria looked at me with wide eyes. "Are you kidding me right now? He's got girls all over him."

I shrugged, and suddenly, we were approached by a certain Spencer Hastings. "Aria Montgomery. Had I known you'd be coming, I would've brought my new and improved essay."

"I'm sorry that I beat your essay, Spencer, but it was all friendly," Aria said smoothly. "It's nice to have some competition in English class for once."

Spencer just gave Aria a suspicious look and then walked off. "Nicely done," I complimented. "She totally wasn't expecting that."

"I don't want to fight with her all year. I heard that she can fight dirty," Aria stated, shaking her head. "I'm going to go make sure that Hanna isn't starting off too hard, okay?"

"Sure," I agreed, and then Aria disappeared into the people. I stood there awkwardly for a second, before realizing that I really didn't know anyone else there. I started to head toward the bar, but I was intercepted by none other than Alison DiLaurentis herself.

"Hey, Emily," she greeted, a smile plastered onto her face. "I'm glad you could make it tonight. Are your friends here?"

"Yeah, they're at the bar," I answered, shrugging. "Hanna was a little bit overjoyed about the alcohol part of this party."

"Is she the gossiper?" Alison asked, and I raised an eyebrow at her, nodding slowly. "Noted. So, have you gotten a drink yet?"

"No, I was actually just about to do that," I admitted.

"Oh, okay. Well, I'll see you around then," Alison said, smiling at me again. I nodded, and side stepped around Alison. As I started to take another step toward the bar, I heard Alison add, "You look really good in that dress, by the way. It's the same color as that blouse at the store. I knew that color would look good on you."

I turned my head over my shoulder and flashed her a smile. "Thanks." And then I disappeared into the people, leaving the blonde behind. My heart was racing and my throat felt tight now. Maybe some alcohol would be a good idea.

"So, which girl invited us?" Hanna wondered as I approached her and Aria. I glanced around the area.

"Uh, I don't see her," I answered, shrugging. Then I looked at the bartender and said, "I'll have whatever she's having." I gestured to Hanna, and the bartender nodded his response. A few seconds later, some weird drink was slid across the counter to me. I took a drink of it and cringed. "What the hell is this?"

Hanna shrugged. "I don't know. As long as it whisks the away the nerves, right?"

"The nerves?" Aria questioned.

"Yeah," Hanna answered, giving us both weird looks. "Come on, guys, tell me that you're not a little freaked out that we were suddenly invited to such a huge, important party. Emily is the only one of us who has ever spoken to Alison DiLaurentis, and she was a bitch to you at the time. Why the hell are we here?"

I just huffed and took another drink of the gross alcohol. "The booze, I guess," I muttered.

"I'm not going to drink anything," Aria decided. "I'm designating myself driver."

"Well good, because I'm going to be _so_ wasted soon," Hanna said, taking another drink out of her cup. "We should go find some cute guys to dance with."

"Hanna—" Aria tried to argue, but an excited Hanna had already grabbed her hand and dragged her into the crowd. I sat at the bar and set down my drink, deciding that a lot of that stuff was not a great idea.

A little while later, after I'd zoned in and out a few times, someone came and sat next to me. Alison. "Hey there," she greeted. "I'm starting to not believe that your friends came."

I looked at her and laughed lightly. "I promise, they're here. Hanna is going to be plastered soon, and Aria is playing babysitter. Just ask the bartender."

Alison saw my almost full glass of alcohol and took it in her hand. I watched her carefully as she took a sip and cringed. "Is that what she's drinking?" I smirked and nodded. "Yeah, she'll need a babysitter. I guess that's what I get for opening my tab."

She set the glass back on the counter.

"So, you're not drinking much?" she asked, taking a sip of whatever it was she had in her cup.

"Nope," I answered, shrugging. "I'm not really in the mood to get drunk."

"Well, you can drink without getting drunk you know," Alison reminded me, smirking and gesturing to herself.

"Thanks but, I'm fine," I answered, giving her an apologetic smile. "Happy birthday, by the way. How does it feel to be able to come into a club with your real ID?"

"It feels legal," Alison answered, chuckling. "Though the bouncer seemed suspicious that my age went from like twenty-six to twenty-one over the past couple of weeks since I last came here."

I laughed at that, and Alison smiled when I laughed.

"Are you at least enjoying the music and stuff? I would hate for you to have come out here and had a horrible time," she told me, and I felt my cheeks turn a little pink.

"No, I'm totally having a good time," I insisted.

"I don't believe you," Alison stated. She turned around and asked for something from the bartender, and a few minutes later, he set down a fruity looking drink in front of her. She slid it over to me.

"What is it?" I asked.

"It's good, trust me. Just don't order a second, or you will start getting drunk," Alison advised. "I've got to go make sure that Mona hasn't tried to get in. I gave the bouncer a list of _don't let in_ people, but Mona's got some tricks up her sleeve. I'll see you later."

"Okay," I answered, giving her a half smile. She smiled at me and stood up, walking off. I took a sip out of the fruity drink she'd gotten me. It did taste really good.

"What's that?" Aria asked me suddenly, sitting down where Alison had been moments earlier.

"I don't know. Someone got it for me," I admitted, shrugging. "It's good, though."

"Aren't you worried that someone might have put something in it?" Aria asked.

I just rolled my eyes playfully at her and took another sip of it. "Where's Han?" Aria gestured into the crowd, where Hanna was dancing with some guys. "Well, at least she isn't afraid to approach guys."

Aria scowled at me. "I'm not _afraid_."

"Sure you aren't," I countered, giving her a pointed look. "Are you having a good time?"

Aria shrugged. "As soon as Hanna is drunk enough to not know that I'm taking her away from the party early, I think we should head back. I mean, are you even having any fun?"

I thought about my conversation with Alison and my heart fluttered in my chest. "I might stay a little longer," I told her. "I just kind of feel like being out of the dorms for a little while, you know?"

"Sure," Aria said, nodding. She gave me a suspicious look, though. "I think I'm going to go collect Hanna, though. The last thing she needs is to make a fool of herself in front of all of the people here that she usually gossips about. They'll be gossiping about her."

I smirked. "Okay, I'll see you when I get back, then."

"Wait, are you going to have a ride?" Aria asked, concerned.

"I'll catch a cab or something. I might not even drink anymore after this," I told her, but she just kept looking at me expectantly. "Aria, I promise that I won't drive unless I'm sober."

"Good," Aria said, smiling at me. "See you later."

I watched her walk over to a partying Hanna. I took another sip of my drink, and suddenly, Alison was sitting next to me again. "Are those your friends?" she asked, looking toward Aria helping Hanna toward the exit.

"Yep. Aria is taking Hanna back to the dorms. She doesn't really… handle her alcohol well," I said, shrugging.

"Aren't you going with them?" Alison asked, and I shook my head.

"I think I'll stay awhile," I answered, taking another sip of the drink Alison had gotten me. "Thanks for the drink, by the way. It's really good."

Alison smiled. "You're welcome."

"So, don't you have like a billion other people that you should be talking to?" I asked. Alison furrowed her eyebrows a little and tilted her head. "I mean, you don't have to stay here and talk to me."

Alison straightened her head out and shrugged. "Do you want me to leave you alone?"

"No, I don't care. I just wanted to make sure that I'm not taking you away from someone else," I stated, feeling nerves in my stomach. Almost wishing that I'd drank more of that anti-nerves drink that Hanna had ordered, I took another sip of my drink.

"You're not," Alison promised. "I'd rather be over here with you anyway. It's not like any of these people came here to see me anyway. They came for the free booze and a reason to hook up."

"So what's the point of going to the trouble of even throwing a big party then?" I asked, giving Alison a confused look.

"Images require maintenance," she stated, shrugging.

"Why is your image so important to you?" I wondered carefully. Alison averted my gaze and looked out at all of the people drinking and dancing.

"I don't know," she admitted, shrugging. "It's like… I'd rather be the girl with the crazy image than the girl who used to have a crazy image and is now a nobody."

"So not having a crazy image makes you a nobody?" I asked her.

She looked back to me. "I'm not special, Emily. I'm completely average. The image and reputation that I've built for myself since freshman year of _high school_ is the only thing that keeps me from being completely average."

I frowned, because I didn't believe that Alison DiLaurentis could be anything but fabulous. "Well, if you've got real friends, then it's hard to not feel special."

"I have Spencer. She's been my friend through everything," Alison stated. "But I still don't feel special."

I took another sip of my drink, and Alison did the same from her plastic cup. "What are you drinking?" I wondered, changing the topic.

"Just beer," she answered, swirling her cup in a circle. "It tastes like shit."

I searched her face for a moment, and then I pursed my lips. "Alison, are you even having a good time?"

"I'm totally having a good time," Alison stated, a teasing tone in her voice as she repeated what I'd said earlier.

"I don't believe you," I told her, taking another sip. "I guess this is when I'm supposed to get you a drink, but I really don't know what any good drinks are."

Alison smirked and set her plastic cup on the counter next to her. "I'm good, I should probably stop drinking anyway."

"You know, you could probably slip out of here and no one would even notice," I commented.

"Spence would notice. She said something about a birthday toast," Alison explained, rolling her eyes. Just as Alison finished talking, the music stopped and was replaced by a voice that I recognized as Spencer's.

She talked for all of thirty seconds to announce Alison's birthday, and everyone cheered afterward, and then went back to everything they'd been doing. What a wonderful birthday toast. "I can think of a ton of way better ways to spend your birthday."

Alison raised an eyebrow at me. "Oh yeah?" she asked. "Name some."

"Come on, I'll show you," I stated, smiling at the blonde and getting up from the bar.

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**Ooh ooooh I wonder where Emily is gonna take Alison :O ;)**

**LiKE IT? LOVE IT? HATE IT? Please let me know in a quick review, or a PM! Also, follow me on Twitter at BrittzandTana ! Tweet me that you read this and I'll follow you back! =)**

**So there will be less of Alison POV than Emily POV in this story, but don't worry, you will get more glimpses into Alison's head ;)**

**Soooo random thing for today... it's like mosquito season where I live I guess bc they're everywhere and I have like six mosquito bites... but that's not even the weird part! I have two on the fingers of my right hand! It's so weird! They don't even like itch, they just hurt! So like I'm typing and they just feel so weird and uncomfortable. Bleh.**

**Anyway haha... have a great day my beautiful lovelies! Please reviewwwwwwwww :)**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: I'm a crazy person. I'm updating again. What the hell lol. You guys are crazy too, but in a good way ;) Your reviews make me SOOO happy c:**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own PLL!**

**PLEASE enjoy, favorite, follow and REVIEW!**

* * *

I drove carefully, keeping my mind completely on the road. After I'd promised Aria that I would only drive completely sober, I felt a little bad about driving with any alcohol in my system. Alison was sitting next to me in the passenger seat.

"Spencer is going to kill me when she finds out that I ditched my own party," the blonde stated.

"Come on, don't you want to enjoy your birthday?" I reminded her, and she chuckled.

"I guess so," she answered. "Are we driving out of Rosewood?"

"Just a little bit. Trust me, I'm not taking you out here to kill you or anything," I promised, laughing lightly.

"You never know," Alison joked, and I pulled off the main road onto a smaller one. I stopped the car once we reached the spot on the edge of a bunch of trees, where you could look down over all of Rosewood and at all of the lights that were still on. "Whoa," Alison commented, looking out at the lights as she got out of my car. I got out as well. Deciding that I didn't really want to sit on the ground, I climbed on top of the hood of my car and sat on the top of the thing, keeping my feet on the hood. "What are you doing?" Alison asked me with a laugh.

"Come on," I pressed, and she rolled her eyes playfully as she climbed up on top of my car. "Isn't it crazy?"

"It all looks so insignificant from up here," Alison commented, her words coming out in a sort of sigh like feel.

"It kind of is insignificant," I admitted, shrugging. "I mean, one day, I plan on being completely out of this place, and I'm never coming back."

"Why so eager to leave?" Alison asked. I shrugged. "Well, it feels significant to me. My life depends on this entire town knowing who I am."

"It does not," I argued, shaking my head. "You are so much more special than you give yourself credit for."

"You hardly even know me," Alison reminded me.

"Yeah, I hardly know you and I already know that you're special," I expanded, and Alison gave me an 'are you serious?' look. "If all of your belongings and real friends were up here with us, and the entire town just disappeared, how much of a loss would you really be at?"

"You don't understand, Em," Alison insisted, and my heart froze in my chest for the half of a second that she called me 'Em'. "Is that okay? If I call you Em?"

"S-Sure," I answered, hoping that she hadn't heard that stutter.

"Anyway, thanks for trying to help about that," Alison thanked me, marking the end of that discussion. I just glanced at her and nodded, before looking back out over Rosewood. "And thanks for taking me here, too."

"You're welcome," I returned, giving her a sideways glance. She was so beautiful that it was hard to not look at her. Suddenly, my phone started ringing from inside the car. I cursed under my breath as I realized that I probably should've gone back to my dorm already and that Aria was probably freaked out.

I felt Alison's eyes on me as I climbed off of the car, and opened the car door to dig around for my phone. Once I had it, I answered it quickly. "Are you coming back soon? Do you need a ride? I'll come and pick you up."

"Um, no, I'm fine to drive now," I promised Aria. "I'll be back in a little while, don't stay up. Is Hanna okay?"

"Yeah. Her roommate was pretty unimpressed when I brought her back to her dorm, but Hanna's okay. She managed to fall asleep without vomiting up all her guts," Aria said, chuckling.

I smiled. "Okay, good. I'll be back soon."

"Okay, drive carefully," Aria advised, and then the line ended. I looked up to see Alison getting off of my car, and I internally sighed and got into the driver's side of my car as she got back into the passenger seat.

"Thanks for this," Alison said again as we drove off. "It was really cool."

"Don't worry about it," I shrugged it off. "Do you want me to drop you off back at the club?"

"Sure, it would probably be better that way so that I can just make up some excuse for being gone," Alison answered. As I drove, the tension in the car felt almost palpable, and I had no idea why. What was Alison thinking right now? I stopped in front of the club when I got there, and she opened her passenger side door. "Thanks again, Em. I'll see you later."

And then she was gone. I took a deep breath and muttered to myself, "I guess you will."

A few minutes later, I was back at the dorm. Although I had told Aria not to wait up for me, she was still awake when I got back. "Hey," she greeted as I walked inside.

"Hey," I replied, wondering why she was looking at me like I had two heads. I tried to ignore the weird look and just flopped down onto my bed.

"So, would you care to explain?" Aria asked.

I raised an eyebrow. "Explain what?"

"Come on. Was there like a girl there that you like or something?" Aria asked, and my chest tightened.

"No," I answered. "I just really needed a break. I'm always either here, or in class, or at work. And it gets boring."

"Okay," Aria said, though it sounded like she didn't completely believe me.

"I'm tired, I'm gonna sleep," I muttered, first getting up and leaving to go down the hall to the bathroom.

Before I knew it, I was at work again the next day. The day was pretty uninteresting. Alison didn't show up, not that I really expected her to. It wasn't like we were really friends now.

I got home before Aria did, because she had a job interview or something. I gathered up my stuff for a shower and left the dorm room to head down to the bathrooms. When I got there, I was disappointed to see a big "OUT OF ORDER" sign on the outside of the bathroom door. The place must have flooded or something. It hadn't happened since I'd lived there, but I'd heard that every once in a while, it did.

So I went to the elevators and went down a floor to Hanna's floor. On my way to those bathrooms, I ran into Hanna walking back from them. "Hey," I greeted.

"The bathrooms out on your floor too?" Hanna asked, and I nodded. "Come on, we've got to go down another floor."

"Damn it," I grumbled. I really hoped that the bathrooms would get fixed soon if going to the bathroom meant going down two floors. We both headed back to the elevators and went down one more floor. We headed to the bathrooms on this floor, and found that they were perfectly fine.

We went inside and took our showers and went to the bathroom. We met up again in front of the mirrors, taking off our makeup with care and moisturizing and such.

As we did, one of the showers opened, and out came a blonde wearing short shorts and a tank. I saw her reflection in the mirror, and I immediately averted my eyes as I saw that it was Alison. I'd had no idea that she lived on this floor.

Hanna gave me a raised eyebrow look once she noticed that it was Alison as well. Whether or not Alison noticed us was unknown as she stepped up in front of the mirror off to our left with her stuff in hand.

A few minutes later, Hanna nudged me and said, "See you later, Em."

"See you," I replied. Somehow, Hanna was always faster to get ready for bed than I was, but on the other hand, I was always faster in the morning.

Now that it was just me and Alison in the bathroom, I could feel a familiar tension, like the one from when we were in the car the previous day. Finally, Alison spoke. "The bathroom on your floor is out?" she asked.

"Yeah," I answered, starting on the process of untangling my damp hair. "And the one below me."

"That sucks," Alison stated simply. "How long do you think they'll be out?"

I shrugged, brushing out my long hair. "Hopefully not too long. It's annoying to have to go down two floors just to go to shower." We were silent a few more seconds, and then I decided that I was done in the bathroom. "See you, Alison," I said, grabbing my stuff and starting for the exit.

"Wait, Em!" Alison called, making me freeze in place. I turned my head back over my shoulder. "Do you maybe like… wanna hang out sometime?"

"Sure," I answered, nodding. She looked around her, and then tore a paper towel from the dispenser. She used an eyeliner pen, which I wasn't sure why she had here at night, to scribble her number onto the towel. Then she held it out to me, and I took it. "I'll text you," I decided, and she nodded in agreement, flashing me a smile.

_AAA_

Back in my dorm, my head was too fuzzy to think straight. Emily did something weird to me like that. Every time I was around her, it was intoxicating. She made my brain go fuzzy, and even after she left, it still was.

"Are you okay?" Spencer asked me as I entered the dorm room.

"Nope," I answered honestly. To anyone else, I would've lied and said that I was feeling completely normal and fine, but Spencer was my best friend, and I never lied to her. That was one of the reasons that we were so close. We told each other all of our secrets. "There's this girl I know, and I've only known her for like a week, but every time I'm around her, my head gets all fuzzy and I can't think straight."

Spencer snorted with laughter at the irony of my last statement, and I rolled my eyes at her. "C'mon Spence, it's not funny. You know that I've never been completely straight."

"I know," she agreed, chuckling a little. "What's her name?"

"Emily," I answered, sitting down on my bed.

"So does she live on this floor? Was she in the bathroom?" Spencer wondered.

I nodded. "Well, she was in the bathroom, but she lives two floors up. The bathrooms up there are out again."

"Is she into girls?" Spencer wondered, raising her eyebrows at me. I shrugged, letting out a light sigh.

"I don't know. I gave her my number and asked if we could hang out, but I didn't ask her out. What if she isn't into girls, Spence?" I groaned, falling backwards onto my pillow.

"Calm down, Ali. Ask her next time you see her. In this day and age, it isn't a crime to ask someone that," Spencer reminded me, throwing a pillow at me playfully. "And you might never know if you don't ask her."

I sighed, catching the pillow and hugging it to my chest. "She's the first girl that I've ever really felt this way toward," I admitted. "I mean, I've always been sort of attracted to them, but not like this."

"Is she going to turn you into a sap?" Spencer teased, and my face immediately hardened as I sent my best friend a glare that answered her question with a big fat NO. Spencer smirked at me.

I just rolled my eyes at her and turned over onto my side. I pictured Emily's face and sighed dreamily before shaking my head. _No one is going to turn you into a sap,_ I told myself. But then I pictured Emily's face again and I gave up, sighing dreamily yet again.

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**I know this chapter wasn't anything amazing, but I promise that the coming chapters are going to be epic :)**

**So please leave me a review or a PM with your thoughts! Also, please follow me on Twitter at BrittzandTana ! Tweet me that you read this and I'll follow you back =D**

**So yeah, this chapter was kind of short, but it makes you feel any better, the last two chapters I just wrote were both over 3k words so yay for that :D**

**Have a great day lovelies! =D Please review! Remember that you are all beautiful and amazing!**

**Oh, forgot to say... I don't know anything about college bathrooms so I made all that up with my mind so yeah lol.**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: So, this chapter may not be the best or the longest, but I know for a fact that the chapters are definitely getting better :) I'm getting more and more excited over this fic, and y'all's amazing response to it is really helping with that. Seriously, I post 5 chapters and I already have 75 reviews?! I am seriously the luckiest girl ever to have readers like you guys =) So yeah, love you all ;)**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own PLL! I do however, own Netflix, which I use to watch old PLL and try to come up with plausible A theories lol.**

**PLEASE enjoy, favorite, follow and REVIEW!**

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The next day, Monday, after my classes, which were all before four in the afternoon, I spent nearly twenty minutes staring at Alison's number scrawled on the paper towel that I still had. I told her that I'd text her, didn't I?

I was honestly really glad that Aria wasn't at the dorm at the moment, because she totally would've caught how nervous I was, and she would've questioned me until I told her why. On the other hand, if Aria was here, then I would have an excuse to not text Alison.

Finally, though, I forced myself to get out my phone and then I saved Alison's number in it. Once that was done, I opened my messaging app and took a deep breath, before finally sending a text to her.

**To Alison- Hey, it's Em.**

Simple, completely simple. That was the best way to go right now, because I felt myself horribly crushing on her and she somehow wanted to hang out with me. From all of the things that I'd heard about Alison, I was pretty sure that she didn't have a lot of friends. She had puppets.

I didn't feel like a puppet when I was with Alison, though. In fact, when I was with Alison, I didn't see any of the things that I should've seen. I didn't see her being a bitch, or being a snob. She was totally sweet to me, and I loved it. I'd hated her for over a year, and now I felt bad when I realized that I judged her so hard without having even met her.

Finally, my phone buzzed, indicating that I had received a text message.

**From Alison- Hey, Em! What's up?**

I could practically hear her voice as I read the text, and I bit my lip as I typed out a response.

**To Alison- Nothing, just got out of my last class for the day about half an hour ago. You?**

Still simple. Not that I could be anything but simple right now. It was either that or freakishly nervous, and that was a little hard to show through text messages.

**From Alison- I just got out of my last class, too! Do you wanna do something?**

My breath caught in my throat. I still couldn't believe that Alison wanted to hang out with me, and I couldn't believe that a week ago, I had hated her guts.

**To Alison- Sure, I'm good with whatever.**

**From Alison- Can we meet at the Brew in ten?**

I bit back a grin as I tapped out a response.

**To Alison- Sure, see you in ten.**

I immediately hopped off of where I'd been sitting on my bed and grabbed my purse. I used the reverse camera on my phone to check that I looked okay, and then I left my dorm.

I ran into Hanna on my way down—she was heading to her afternoon class. "Where you out to, Em?" she asked, stepping into the elevator with me.

"Just to the Brew," I answered, clearing my throat a little and hoping that she wouldn't question me further.

"By yourself?" Hanna asked, looking at me unbelievingly. I shrugged, and we reached the first floor. "Well, I'll see you later."

"Yep," I answered, as we split up. I found my car and started driving away from Hollis and toward the center of town, where the Brew was. I tried not to freak out as I drove, because the last thing I wanted to do was get into a car accident while I was driving to meet Alison.

I pulled my car into a parallel parking spot as I reached the general area of the Brew, and then I walked the little bit of distance to the coffee place.

I walked into the Brew, glancing around the place. I saw Alison sitting alone at a table, looking down at her phone. She was wearing a cute blue top and her golden hair was twirled into its normal curls.

I looked away before she could look up and catch me staring, and went up to the counter to first get my coffee. Once I had it, I walked over and sat across from Alison. "Hey," I greeted as I sat down, hoping that my nerves weren't showing through.

Alison looked up from her phone and a smile immediately appeared on her face as she set the electronic device down. "Hey," she returned. "I hope I'm not stealing you from any plans or anything."

"Who goes out on Mondays?" I joked, and Alison smiled at the joke.

She gestured to my coffee suddenly and asked, "What do you drink?"

"It's uh, Americano," I answered, glancing down at my coffee. Then I looked back up and raised an eyebrow at the blonde. "Why?"

"You can tell a lot about someone by what kind of coffee they drink," Alison admitted, smiling slyly at me.

"What can you tell about me then?" I questioned, quirking my eyebrow up a little bit.

Alison raised her eyebrows. "I'm not going to give away my secrets."

"Oh of course not," I responded, smirking and taking a sip of my coffee. I almost choked, though, when I saw a blush appear on Alison's cheeks after I smirked at her. I managed to not choke, though, which was for the best, since I probably would've spewed coffee everywhere. I set my coffee down and decided that I maybe didn't want the rest of it now. "So, Alison DiLaurentis doesn't have anywhere better to be right now?"

Alison tilted her head at me. "Why do you always assume that I would have something better to do?"

I shrugged. "Because I'm nothing special. I guess I just don't know exactly why you want to hang out with me."

"I'm sort of thinking the same thing," Alison admitted, "since a week ago, you did sort of hate me."

I wet my lips nervously. "I—"

"Don't worry about it," Alison insisted, smiling at me. "And by the way, Em, you can call me Ali."

My heart was beating like crazy inside my chest, and I was almost positive that Alison could see it. Alison… Ali… Did anyone even call Alison Ali? I couldn't remember ever hearing anyone say it. "Okay," I said, trying to be completely nonchalant about the situation.

Alison shifted uncomfortably in her seat, and I wondered if she noticed how weird I was being. "So, Em, do you have a boyfriend?" Ali asked me.

I bit the inside of my lip, and then opened my mouth to answer. "Um… no, I don't."

"Why not? Pretty girl like you…" she trailed off, looking at me curiously. I was sure, though, that I'd heard some sort of nervous shake in her voice.

"I'm… not really like… into guys," I answered, wetting my lips nervously and watching Ali's face carefully. It didn't change much, like she wasn't very surprised.

"Really?" she asked, and now I was almost positive that I'd heard the shake. It was almost like she felt like she couldn't trust her own voice, which was sort of like how I was feeling.

Deciding that maybe I should talk next, I asked her, "What about you? Do you have a boyfriend?"

Alison's eyes met mine and she shook her head. "Nope, I don't." I let out a little breath that I hadn't known I'd been holding, and hoped that she didn't notice.

Suddenly, my phone buzzed. I grabbed it out of my pocket and saw that it was from Aria.

**From Aria- Oh my gosh, Em! I have a date with Ezra— that guy I've been crushing on! You have to help me get ready! Get back here ASAP!**

I looked back up at Ali, but before I said anything, she asked, "You have somewhere to be?" she asked.

"Aria… she needs me to help her get ready for her date," I answered.

Alison smiled. "So go help her. Thanks for keeping me from being utterly bored in the meantime, though."

I returned the smile. "Anytime," I told her as we both stood up. "Text me?"

Alison nodded in agreement, her cheeks turning a rosy color again. "I'll do that. Bye, Em."

"Bye, Ali," I replied, smiling and turning to leave.

_AAA_

I watched Emily walk out of the Brew, and then I bit back a grin. I felt myself blush multiple times during that awkward conversation, and I felt like jumping for joy at the fact that Emily like girls. Not the mention, I finally told her to call me Ali. At first, I thought that she would forget and call me Alison, but then she did call me Ali and all I had to say about it was that it sounded super sexy when she said it.

Trying to contain my excitement, I ordered two coffees from the counter and brought them back out to my car.

Once I was back at the dorm, I handed Spencer her coffee, which she took gratefully. "So," she asked, "how was your date with _Emily_?"

"It wasn't a date," I stated, shaking my head, but then a smile grew onto my face.

"What's that smile for?" Spencer asked, raising an eyebrow at me.

"Emily is into girls!" I squealed excitedly. Spencer laughed at me, but then she smiled.

"Good, so you're going to actually ask her out next time?" she asked me. I shrugged.

"I mean, I don't know if she likes _me_ like that… but I guess it wouldn't hurt to ask her out I mean… right?" I asked, feeling nervous again.

"Right," Spencer confirmed, shaking her head at me as she chuckled. "I have to meet this girl. She turns you into a nervous wreck."

I glared at Spencer. "She does not. I have complete control of myself when I'm around her."

That was a lie I could never back up, of course. I'd barely been able to get words out after she told me that she didn't have a boyfriend, and it got even worse when she said that she didn't like guys. I hoped that problem would go away, because I hated not being in complete control of my head.

Honestly though, it was likely not going to go away anytime soon. I was used to being the center of attention and never running out of things to say, but for some reason, when I was around Emily, words just slipped from my mind and I had to think extra hard to say anything to her. Even though it did sort of frustrate me, though, I was pretty sure that I wasn't going to get tired of it.

"So, are you going to ask her out like… soon?" Spencer questioned, knocking me out of my thoughts.

"I-I… I don't know," I answered, blinking nervously. "She's busy right now, helping a friend out with getting ready for a date."

"Call her tomorrow and ask her out," Spencer suggested, and I nodded in a nervous agreement. "Damn, you must really like this girl."

I gave Spencer a pleading look. "What if I chicken out, Spence?"

"You won't. I'll be here the whole time making sure that you ask her," she decided, nodding surely. "Oh hey, by the way, I've been meaning to ask you… why was Aria Montgomery at your birthday party? I don't remember her being on the guest list."

I blinked, trying to think of an excuse, but Spencer gave me a pointed look that told me that I was caught. "I invited Emily to my party, and Aria is like her best friend."

"Seriously?" Spencer asked with a groan. "So that means I have to be like, nice to her?"

"Don't pretend like you're some big bitch, Spence, you're totally not," I stated, smirking and shaking my head.

I sighed, laying back onto my pillow and thinking of Emily. What if she didn't agree to go out with me? What if she didn't even like me like that?

Or what if she still kind of hated me like she did before she met me, and she was just pretending not because she didn't want to be on my bad side?

I sighed and squeezed my eyes shut. I just had to hope that Emily was a good person like I thought she was. Some people could be really judgmental, and I needed her to not be. I needed her to be able to see who I really was.

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**So yeah, short and sweet :) Em is calling Alison Ali :P And good riddance, too. It was getting annoying making sure that I wrote out "Alison" every time instead of being able to jump around.**

**It was pointed out to me by my sister, who is finally reading LMLY (it's like the only one of my fics that she hadn't read), that I made Spencer get Ali to ask Em out in LMLY and in this story. I hadn't even realized that lol until she pointed it out XD I almost feel bad for doing it again lol. The next time I start an AU Emison fic, if you guys see that coming, remind me not to do that again XD hahaha..**

**So, like it? Please let me know your thoughts in a quick review or a PM! Alsoooo please follow me on Twitter at BrittzandTana ! Tweet me that you read this and I'll follow you back!**

**This update, and the RIMS update I just posted, would've been up sooner, but I felt really bad after I watched PLL and Chasing Life (almost like I was going to get sick) and I felt so bad that I couldn't even sit up to be on my computer... so I didn't start writing anything until I felt better.. so yeah :P**

**Goodnight lovelies! You're all brilliant! Please review!**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Update update update! Some of you know that I was feeling really bad last night before I updated, and this morning I woke up feeling bad again. I started feeling a lot better and once I was comfortable with eating an entire meal and ended up perfectly fine, I started writing for you all lol :)**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own PLL!**

**PLEASE enjoy, favorite, follow and REVIEW! =D Remember 100th reviewer gets a shoutout! (ARE WE ALREADY AT ALMOST 100? YOU ARE ALL AMAZING!)**

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"So how exactly did you get this date today?" I questioned, wishing that I had the ability to just get a date with someone I liked that quickly and randomly.

"Well," Aria started, "at the end of my class, I was heading out of the building and I just sort of ran into Ezra and I guess he saw me at Alison's party, he stopped me and asked if I wanted to go out with him tonight."

"And now here we are," I finished for her, chuckling as I continued to go through her clothes. I was still confused as to why she wanted _me_ to help her pick our her outfit, considering that Hanna was much better suited for this.

"So, who were you with at the Brew before I called you?" Aria asked, raising an eyebrow at me.

I kept my face completely straight, and then furrowed my eyebrows a little. "I wasn't with anyone. I just wanted to get out of this place and have some coffee."

"Uh huh, like I'll believe that," Aria said, raising her eyebrows at me. "Come on, we're best friends, you can tell me anything!"

I ignored the insistence as I pulled out some clothes from Aria's dresser. "Here, this," I said, tossing her the clothes.

"Thanks!" she exclaimed, and then she stood up off of her bed to change. I flopped onto my bed and willed her not to ask me anything else about why I went to the Brew.

"You could've at least brought me a coffee while you were at the Brew," Aria teased. "Are you _sure_ that there wasn't someone with you, Em?" I didn't answer, because I really hated lying, but now Aria knew that I was hiding something. "Emily!" she exclaimed. "You have to tell me!"

"It was nothing," I insisted, shaking my head. "It doesn't matter who was there."

"Well if this is going to be my potential sister in law," Aria started jokingly. I put my hands over my cheeks and eyes to hide my blush, because now I was imagining me and Alison _married_. But I did like how Aria and I were such best friends that we were like sisters, and she was referencing that.

"Trust me, Aria, it was nothing like that," I promised her, shaking my head as I felt my blush disappear. "If it was important, I would tell you."

"Yeah, if it was unimportant, wouldn't you still tell me?" Aria countered.

"_Aria_," I groaned. "It was nothing, okay? I just don't want to talk about it."

Aria sighed. "Okay. Whatever you say." She picked up her phone and her eyes widened. "I've got to go! Thanks for your help, Em! You're seriously the best!"

"I know," I told her jokingly, and she rolled her eyes playfully at me. "Have a good date with this mysterious Ezra."

Aria's cheeks turned slightly pink and she flashed me a nervous smile, and then she was out the door. I sighed and laid backwards against my pillow. Aria grilling me about who I was at the Brew with got me nervous. Aria and Hanna would absolutely flip shit if they knew that I was hanging out with Ali, suddenly so sure that she wasn't the bitch they thought she was.

I was pretty sure that this strange friendship sort of relationship that I'd formed with Alison was going to sizzle and dissolve, though. Especially if she found out that I was starting to like her _that_ way. She may have just seemed to shrug off the fact that I liked girls, but she was probably a little freaked out by it. A lot of people were. Aria and Hanna may have even been a little freaked out when I first told them years ago.

Suddenly, my phone buzzed next to me. I grabbed it and opened up the text message that I'd received.

**From Alison- Hey, thanks again for hanging out with me today.**

I read the text message a few times over before I decided to change Alison's contact in my phone to "Ali".

**To Ali- Like I said before, anytime. (:**

My heart was already racing just by texting Alison. For a split second, I wondered if Ali was feeling the same way as she texted me, but I immediately decided that she probably wasn't.

Ali didn't text me back, and I almost felt disappointed. I set my phone back down and decided to order some pizza for myself.

I stayed up and waited for Aria to get home, because it was customary for us to rant about dates after they happened. We also did it in case the other never texted or showed back up, in which case it was the other's job to like call the cops.

Luckily, though, Aria did come home at ten. Her eyes were all dreamy when she walked into the dorm, and I took that as a good sign. I smiled knowingly at her. "It went well?" I asked.

She nodded, closing the door behind her. Her mouth spread into a grin as she sat down on her bed, facing me. "Oh my gosh, he's perfect. We have so many things in common, and he is like super dreamy and he actually likes me and… I can't believe it but I'm like so happy!"

I chuckled. "Congrats," I said, shaking my head slightly as I laughed. "Are you two going out again soon then?"

Aria nodded, grinning even wider. "Friday!"

"Does he live on campus?" I wondered, and Aria shook her head.

"Nope, he's got his own apartment," Aria answered, smiling devilishly. I smirked at what she was probably thinking about right now, and then she suddenly changed the topic. "So, I was thinking, is the girl you were with at the Brew the same girl that invited you to Alison's party?"

"What?" I asked, furrowing my eyebrows at the unexpected topic switch.

"Come on, some mystery girl who you don't even know asks you to like the biggest party event of the year, and then you're going on mystery dates with mystery people…" Aria looked at my pointedly, as if trying to tell me to dish right then.

I shook my head. "You're making things up, Aria," I insisted. "I wasn't even on a date. You know that I would've told you or Hanna if it was a date."

That was true. Just like I waited up for Aria while she was on dates, she did the same for me. It was our unspoken rule. Aria sighed. "Fine. I won't push anymore. Just… don't be afraid to talk to me, okay?"

"Okay," I agreed, giving her a smile. "So, do you think you'll be up all night dreaming of _Ezra_?"

Aria's cheeks turned pink. "I hope I won't, because I have an English test tomorrow and I can't screw it up."

"Why, because you have to beat Spencer Hastings?" I asked.

Aria gave a look that said "Obviously!" Then she said, "I told her we're keeping it friendly, and I will, but that doesn't mean that I don't want to beat her!"

"Of course," I said, chuckling. "Well, I should probably get to sleep. I think next year, I'm going to go for classes that aren't as early."

Aria shrugged. "At least having classes earlier means that you have work in the afternoons and then you get to go out on dates at night."

I smiled, but shrugged. While that was true, it wasn't like I had girls calling me up for dates everyday.

That was why during work the next day, when Ali suddenly called me, I didn't expect anything special to come out of it. I guessed that she was probably just bored and didn't have anyone else to talk to. And there I was again, assuming that I was a last resort and that she had better things to do.

"Hey, Em!" she greeted when I answered.

"Hey, Ali," I returned, not able to help the smile that appeared on my face. "What's up?"

"Nothing, really," Alison answered, and I thought that she almost sounded nervous. If she was… why was she? "You?"

"Oh, I'm just working," I answered, glancing around the store. There were a few stray shoppers looking at clothes, but no one seemed ready to check out.

"Oh! I'm sorry, I didn't meant to interrupt your work," she apologized quickly, which made me quirk up an eyebrow. Sure, Alison wasn't really who I had originally thought she was, but I still didn't expect an apology for something like that. "I just, uh, I wanted to ask you something."

Now, my heart froze in my chest. I was completely torn right now. I could only think of one thing that she would've called to ask me, and that would make her sound so nervous, but I didn't think that she would ask it. "Yeah?" I asked, hoping that my voice didn't sound too forced out.

"Do you maybe like… want to go out with me on Friday?"

_AAA_

My heart was pounding in my chest as there was silence on the other end of the line. My eyes were probably really wide, and I could feel Spencer's eyes on me as she waited to see my reaction to whatever Emily's answer would be. If she ever answered, that was.

Finally, I heard her ask in a careful voice, "Like… out on a date?"

I felt myself holding my breath, and I let just enough out to answer, "Yeah, a date." So much for confident Alison DiLaurentis. In fact, this was the least confident I had probably ever felt. I hoped that I at least _sounded_ relatively confident about this.

"S-sure," I heard Emily stutter out. That was a good sign, I hoped. I let out the breath I'd been holding, hoping that Emily couldn't hear it.

"Okay, cool. Is seven on Friday good then?" I asked, biting the inside of my lip.

"Yeah, that works," Emily answered, her voice sounding a little shaky, like she was surprised by me asking her out at all.

"Cool. I'll text you later, then," I said, glancing over at Spencer, who was smiling proudly.

"Okay," Emily agreed. "Bye, Ali."

"Bye," I returned, and then I hung up. "Oh my gosh."

"I told you that it couldn't hurt," Spencer reminded me, smirking. "So, where are you going to take her?"

I fell backwards on my bed, throwing my hands over my face. It was burning up with my blush. "I don't know, Spence! I didn't even think she would say yes!"

"You should probably keep it simple," Spencer decided. "Like the Grille."

"Yeah, you're probably right," I agreed, and then I let out a frustrated noise. "I hate this!"

"What?" Spencer asked, sounding confused.

"I hate feeling like this!" I answered. "I don't feel confident or strong or brave. I feel tiny and scared and I hate it!"

Spencer didn't say anything for a second, and I peeled my hands off of my face to look over at her. She finally said, "I think it means that you really like Emily."

"Well of course I like her," I answered, frustrated. "How many girls have you seen me asking out lately?"

"Look, I'm just saying, maybe feeling like that isn't a horrible thing," Spencer suggested. I shook my head.

"I felt a lot more confident when I first started talking to Emily. Why am I suddenly feeling like this now?" I demanded.

"Maybe because you didn't really like her when you first started talking to her," Spencer answered, shrugging.

I sighed, trying to pinpoint the moment that I had decided that I really liked her. I settled on the night that she drove me up to that point where we looked down at the tiny town of Rosewood. That made the most sense anyway, considering that I gave her my number the following day. Maybe I hadn't really liked her until we talked on top of her car, and ever since I realized that I'd liked her, I couldn't control myself around her.

"You okay?" Spencer asked, sounding concerned. I nodded.

"Let's stop talking about me," I decided. "Got anything else to talk about?"

"Tomorrow I have a test in English," Spencer said, shrugging. "I have to kick Aria's ass at it if I want to redeem any sort of pride."

I couldn't help but laugh. "Well don't kick it too hard." Spencer smirked at me, and I just shook my head.

"Do you think Aria knows about whatever is going on between you and Emily?" Spencer wondered.

I shrugged. "I have no idea. All I know is that before Emily and I started talking, she hated my guts. Which means that probably Aria and their friend Hanna does too."

"Hanna? Marin?" Spencer wondered. I answered with a shrug, because I didn't know her last name. Actually, I didn't even know Emily's last name. "She was at your party, too, I think. I saw her with Aria."

"Yeah, they both came," I answered, shrugging and not really wanting to talk about my party. That would lead to me possibly telling Spencer that I'd left my party to go hang out with Emily, something she hadn't noticed that night. And I didn't really want to talk about me and Emily right now. I already felt unconfident enough around her, I didn't need to feel that by talking about her, too.

I couldn't help but wonder though, if it maybe was a good sign.

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**I think you guys will like the Emison date =) It's actually not in the next chapter, but you'll like the next chapter anyway ;P**

**Sooooo like it? Love it? Hate it? Please let me know in a quick review! OR a PM, if reviewing isn't your thing :P ALSO, please follow me on Twitter at BrittzandTana ! Tweet me that you read this and I shall follow you back =) Yay for follows =)**

**So I was doing some checking on my Story Legacy Traffic Stats... I was looking at WDCT and this story, (WDCT is my most popular Dantana story), and I was checking to see if this story is getting more reviews per chapter, and it is :D :D :D Well, except I got like 25 reviews on like the third chapter of WDCT, but anyway yeah, I think this story is getting the most reviews per chapter out of any of my stories :O**

**I love you all lots and lots and lots! Have a great night lovelies =) Please review c:**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: I haven't finished writing the chapter I was supposed to finish before I posted this, but I've just been told that I'm going out somewhere in like half an hour so I'm going to post this now so that I don't do it really late :)**

**SHOUTOUT TO MY 100TH REVIEWER OF THIS STORY! User... badadadadadada actually it was a guest! jmc12 ! Thank you all for reviewing!**

**Also, I got a review that just said "More frequent and longer chapters" or something like that. I'm not entirely sure if you were trying to say that I need to be more frequent with longer updates but... if you were... I'm already posting like every day and if I post any longer of chapters than I already am, I won't be able to do daily updates. Also, just so you know, when school starts, updates will probably no longer be every day.**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own PLL!**

**PLEASE enjoy, favorite, follow and REVIEW! Also I don't have time to reread this so... all mistakes are mine! I'll reread it later! :P**

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"So, since Aria is going to be hooking up with her new boy toy on Friday, do you want to hang out and watch a movie or something?" Hanna asked me as we walked into the Brew on Wednesday. I hadn't talked to Ali since she called me on Monday, since the bathrooms on my level of the dorms had been fixed, and I was almost scared too. I was pretty positive that her asking me out was totally honest and not some horrible prank, but I was having a hard time believing that she really liked me like that.

"I can't on Friday," I answered.

"Why? Aren't you waiting up for her too?" Hanna asked.

"We don't have to wait up on her. She's already been out with Ezra," I stated, shrugging.

"So? I still expect a text telling us that she's alive at the end of the night. It's not like he's some saint just because they had a good first date," Hanna argued. "Anyway, either way, don't you want to have something to do on Friday night?"

I didn't answer for a moment, instead ordering my usual Americano from the barista. Once Hanna and I both had our drinks, we sat down on the empty couches that were nestled across from the entrance to the Brew. It was my favorite spot in the little coffee shop. "I can't on Friday," I repeated.

"Why not? Do you have plans?" Hanna asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Actually, yes, I do," I answered. "I'm going on a date."

Hanna's eyebrows shot up, like she hadn't seen that coming at all. "You do? Why didn't you say something? Now I have to wait up for both Aria _and_ you."

"Don't worry, I'll be fine," I insisted, though I wasn't entirely sure. A few good conversations with Alison didn't mean that she was completely trustworthy. If I told Hanna that I was going out with Ali, she would tell me that the Alison DiLaurentis always had a reason for being nice to people. She was always following her own agenda.

I was a little scared that it might be true, but I was pretty sure that Ali had been genuine on the phone on Monday. She'd at least sounded completely nervous, so either she was a really good actress or she was nervous about out date. And it had to be the good kind of nervous, since she was the one who asked me out. "Well, are you going to tell me who the lucky girl is?" Hanna demanded.

I shrugged. "I'll tell you if it becomes really important."

Hanna raised an eyebrow at me, looking completely bewildered that I wouldn't tell her who I was going out with. "Well if you don't come home on Friday, who am I supposed to say you were with?"

"Hanna, I'm serious. It's not serious right now, and it probably won't end up being serious. If it does, you know I'll tell you," I insisted.

"Did you tell Aria?" Hanna demanded, raising an eyebrow.

"Tell me what?" Aria asked, joining us suddenly with her own coffee. I opened my mouth to answer, but Hanna beat me to it.

"Emily is going on a date on Friday," she told Aria, speaking in her gossip voice.

"What?" Aria demanded. "Why didn't you tell me? Who are you going out with?"

"She won't say!" Hanna exclaimed.

I huffed. "Look, it's not important who she is, and if it becomes important, I'll tell you both. At the same time. Okay? Chill."

"Let's make a deal then," Aria said, raising one of her eyebrows a little bit. "On Saturday, if your date went well, you have to tell us who it was with. If it went badly, you don't go out with her again and we won't ask who it was. Deal?" She held out her hand.

I took a deep breath and took her hand, shaking it. "Deal."

"So Aria, do you think you'll go over to Ezra's place after your date on Friday?" Hanna asked, and I knew that she was asking because she _hated_ waiting up for people to get back from dates.

I tuned out of their conversation as I saw the Brew's door open and a familiar head of curly blond hair walked in the place, Spencer and another girl in tow. Her mouth was moving, but I couldn't hear what she was saying. I tried not to stare, in fact I actually looked away. I looked at Aria as she answered Hanna, but then my eyes jumped back up and over to Alison.

Ali was ordering a drink, and as she stepped aside to let Spencer order one, her eyes scanned casually over the tables and over to the couches. Her eyes stopped on me, and I managed to form a smile. She immediately smiled back, and my heart was beating way too fast. Spencer nudged Alison suddenly, and the blonde blinked, breaking our eye contact. Spencer was handing Alison a coffee, and then they turned and started to leave.

Ali glanced back, though, and flashed me another smile, before she disappeared. I let out a breath and leaned backwards a little. That girl was going to kill me. "Hey, Em, are you okay?" Aria asked suddenly, and I moved my gaze away from the door and back to Aria and Hanna.

"I'm fine," I answered.

"What were you staring at?" Hanna demanded, looking over at the entrance to the Brew.

"Nothing. I just got lost in thought," I answered, shaking my head.

"Uh huh, sure you did," Hanna said in an unbelieving sort of way. I just rolled my eyes.

"I have to get to work. I'll see you guys later," I said, and they both gave me a quick goodbye as I stood up and headed out of the Brew. I glanced around as I exited the place, hoping that I would see Ali somewhere, but she must've already left the area.

I sighed and headed for my car.

Just a few minutes later, I was behind the checkout counter at work. There was one other person working, but she was in the back organizing boxes of new clothes and things. A few people came in the store and bought some things, but this place wasn't ever really busy, especially not on a Wednesday afternoon.

Someone had come in and grabbed a ton of shirts, bringing them all to the counter and then selecting the ones she wanted. Among the ones she left behind on the counter was the blue blouse that Ali had wanted in yellow. It sat lamely on the counter next to me, because I was too lazy to go put all the shirts away. I really just wanted to be back at the dorm already.

I was playing a game on my phone, ignoring everything around me, when I felt someone approach me. I glanced up, and my eyes widened as I saw Alison standing in front of the counter. I suddenly didn't really want to be back at the dorm. "Hi," I said, setting my phone down on the counter.

"Hey," Ali returned, smiling at me. "Busy?" She glanced at my phone.

I shook my head. "Nope."

"Do you get off soon?" Alison wondered. "It's starting to get late."

I shrugged. "I think I have like twenty minutes left," I answered. "What are you doing here?"

"I was in the area," Ali said, but I knew that was a lie. She was near the area when she was at the Brew, a few hours earlier, but I doubted that she was still just strolling around, and alone.

"You were?" I asked, raising an eyebrow and giving her a pointed look.

Alison smiled bashfully. "No, I made it up."

I let out a small laugh and playfully rolled my eyes. "So what are you really doing here?"

"I figured that you were bored at work," Ali answered, shrugging.

"How'd you know I'd be at work?" I asked, and Alison just smiled slyly at me. I liked how mysterious Ali could be sometimes, even if that was something I would've hated about her before. She looked down and around the counter, not indicating that she was going to say anything, so I decided that I would. "So, what should I wear on Friday?"

I saw a sort of blush appear on Ali's cheeks, but she didn't say anything for a second. Suddenly, she grabbed the blue blouse sitting on the side of the counter. "This," she answered, holding it out in front of her, as though she were picturing it on me.

"It's not mine," I stated.

She opened her purse and procured her wallet. A second later, she slid her card across the counter. "I'll buy it for you," she decided.

"You don't have to do that," I said, shaking my head.

"I want to," Ali insisted. "It'll look really good on you."

I took the card and then rung up the shirt. "I thought you would've ever wear anything from this place on a date."

Alison bit her lip as she watched me slide her card through the card reader. "Well, like I said, it'll look really good on you."

I could tell that I'd caught her on that one, and I felt a little proud of myself for doing that. "What are you wearing on Friday?" I asked, finishing up the checking out process and sliding her card back toward her.

She took it and slid it back into her wallet, which she placed in her purse. "What do you want me to wear?' she asked, looking up at me and locking our gazes. I felt a blush rise up into my cheeks, and I found myself at a lost for words. She broke our locked gazes to pick up the blue blouse and slide it off of its hanger. She handed it over the counter to me. "Here."

"Thanks," I said quietly, taking the shirt. It was pretty cute, and I agreed that it would definitely look good on me. "It doesn't matter what you wear on Friday," I said suddenly, "you'll look good in anything."

Now, Alison's cheeks turned a bright red. I found that a little surprising, because I figured that she'd be used to getting compliments. Yet somehow, I'd made her blush like that. She opened her mouth to say something, but then suddenly, the girl who was working the same shift as me popped her head out from the storage room. "Hey, Emily, I'll finish up here. You can go now, if you want."

"Thanks," I called, and she disappeared back in the room. I looked back at Alison. "Looks like I'm done here."

Ali watched me as I grabbed my purse and slid the blue blouse inside of it. I grabbed my phone and then walked around and out of the checkout area. "So, do you think you can give me a ride back to the dorms?" Alison asked. "Someone dropped me off here."

I gave her a curious look. "Sure," I answered, smiling at her. She followed me out of the store and toward my car, which was one of two on the street.

She got in the passenger side while I got in the driver's side. As soon as we were both buckled in, I started driving us back to the dorms. "So," Ali started to speak suddenly, "do your friends know that you're going out with me on Friday?"

For some reason, hearing her say that we were "going out" on Friday made my heart rate pick up even more than it had already picked up. "Um, not exactly." I bit my lip nervously as I watched the road in front of me.

"They don't like me, do they?" Ali wondered.

"They don't know you," I corrected.

"Neither do you," Alison said, shrugging.

I took a breath that I hope wasn't too loud sounding. "Well, I know you better than they do."

I glanced at Ali to see her nod in agreement. "Spencer didn't like me when I first met her," Alison admitted. "She thought that I was just messing with her when we first started hanging out, but it didn't take long before she realized that I'm actually a real person."

I blinked, and gave her another sideways glance.

"I bet you've considered that I'm just messing with you, too," Ali said, taking an obviously deep breath and looking down at her hands in her lap. I could hear the nervousness in her voice. I didn't answer, I just swallowed thickly. "But I'm not."

"I believe you," I stated, hoping that my voice didn't come out too pathetic sounding.

I felt Ali's eyes on me as I drove, and I wondered what was going through her head. "Good," she finally said. I pulled up into the parking lot outside of the dorms. "Thanks for the ride back," she added as we got out of my car and headed for the building.

"Don't mention it," I insisted as we entered the building. We silently got into the elevator, and she clicked the third floor's button, and I clicked the fifth. When the elevator got to her floor, she flashed me a smile.

"I'll see you Friday," she said.

"Yeah, see you Friday," I agreed, smiling back at her. And then she stepped out, the doors closing behind her. I sighed, leaning against the wall of the elevator. Alison drove me crazy after being around her for twenty minutes. How was I going to go through our whole date on Friday without dying?

I got to my floor and hurried to my dorm, where Aria was scrolling through something on her computer. "Hey," I greeted as I walked into the room. "What are you looking at?"

"Test scores," Aria answered, and I raised an eyebrow at her. Half a second later, her face split into a super happy grin. "Yes!"

"You beat Spencer?" I asked, chuckling as I set my purse down on the counter and took the blue blouse that Ali had bought for me out of it.

"Yes!" Aria answered. "Not by much, but it will drive her crazy!"

"She'll live," I stated, "she's probably at the top of all of her other classes anyway."

"What's that?" Aria asked, glancing up at me and my new blouse. I held it up to me and gave her a questioning look. "It's cute."

"Thanks," I said, turning to the wall length mirror we had in our dorm. It was definitely my color.

"Did you get it today?" Aria asked as I looked at the shirt in the mirror.

"Yeah," I answered, before folding the thing carefully and slipping into the top drawer of my dresser.

"What for? Friday?" Aria asked, raising an eyebrow at me. I shrugged.

"Sure," I answered, sitting on my bed and pulling out my phone.

Aria gave me a disbelieving look. "Oh come on, Em, you've got to tell me something!"

"Saturday," I reminded her. She huffed, rolling her eyebrows and looking back at her computer. I stared at my blank phone screen and thought about Ali.

_AAA_

"I thought you were going to call me when you were done randomly walking into that place to talk to Emily?" Spencer said, looking at me with confusion as I walked into our dorm room.

"Well, her shift ended and she drove me back," I said, shrugging. "She lives on the top floor, you know."

Spencer raised an eyebrow and just looked back down at the computer screen that she always seemed to be looking at. "Damn it!" she yelled suddenly. "I am going to kill that bitch!"

I smirked. "Aria?"

"Two points! Two points higher than me!" Spencer exclaimed.

"You'll live," I stated, rolling my eyes.

Spencer glared at me. "Okay, I know that she's Emily's bestie or whatever, but I have to do something about this."

"What are you going to do?" I demanded, raising an eyebrow. There wasn't much that I would be able to do about it, let alone Spencer. It wasn't like she was going to force Aria to do bad in her class.

Spencer huffed, brushing some of her hair out of her face. "Nothing," she growled.

"But anyway, yeah, Emily and her friends are off limits," I stated the reminder.

Spencer just looked back up at me. "So, did you fall apart when you talked to her?"

"Let's just say that I did a pretty good job of making myself look a lot more confident than I actually was," I said, sitting down on my bed. "Though I'm pretty sure she noticed that I was nervous."

"Well good, wouldn't you rather her know that you have to ability to feel?" Spencer pointed out, and I shot her a glare that she didn't see; she was already looking back down at her laptop.

"By the way," I said, "Emily's friends don't know that I'm going out with her on Friday. So whatever you do, don't mention it to Aria."

"She's not telling her best friends?" Spencer asked, raising her eyebrows.

"I don't blame her. Her friends aren't the biggest fans of me," I reminded my best friend, sighing.

"Well, Emily stopped hating you, right?" Spencer reasoned, and I just shrugged in response.

"I'm going to head to the bathroom," I said, grabbing some stuff and leaving the dorm. I shook Emily out of my head as I headed into the bathroom to shower and get ready for bed.

_EEE_

I didn't see Ali on Thursday, just like I didn't see her on Tuesday, and come Friday, I was starting to feel very nervous about our date tonight. I almost wanted to just tell Aria who I was going out with and then talking to her about how nervous I was, but I didn't see that ending well. Plus, she was just as nervous about her second date with Ezra.

In fact, we both spent the afternoon in our dorm room, going through Aria's dresser so that she would have the perfect outfit. I'd already had mine ready, just some tight skinny jeans and my new blue blouse. It was simple.

When Aria finally picked her outfit, we both changed into our date attire. Hers was spunky and cool like all of her outfits.

I looked at myself in the mirror. My skinny jeans fit my perfectly, and in my opinion, they made my ass look super good. Aria must've seen me checking myself out, because she asked, "Trying to impress this girl?"

"Maybe," I answered, hoping that I didn't sound too nervous. "Do I look okay?"

"You look gorgeous, Em," Aria answered.

"Thanks," I said, flashing her a smile. "So do you."

"Oh, it's six thirty!" Aria exclaimed suddenly. "I've got to go, Ezra's waiting outside."

"Okay. See you tonight… or maybe tomorrow," I said, giving her a pointed look. She grinned at me and left the dorm. I sighed and looked back at myself in the mirror. I wasn't exactly sure if I was supposed to meet Alison somewhere or what, because wasn't she standing just two floors below me?

Then I got a text that answered that question.

**From Ali- Meet me in front of the building at seven. I'm driving. (:**

I felt a smile appear on my face as I read the text.

**To Ali- Got it. (:**

Suddenly, I got a Face time call from Hanna. Knowing better than to decline, I answered. Hanna's face appeared on my phone screen. "Girl, let me see your outfit!" she exclaimed. I laughed at her and switched the camera so that it was facing the mirror. "Wow, you look hot. I guess you're trying to impress this mystery girl?"

"She's not a mystery girl," I insisted, chuckling.

"She is to me!" Hanna exclaimed. "Don't worry, though, if she likes booty, she's totally going to be all over you."

My eyes widened a little bit and my cheeks flushed pink. "Thanks," I said, flipping the camera back around so that she was looking at my face.

"Nervous?" she wondered.

"Maybe a little," I answered.

"Do you know where you two are going? Did she ask you out, or did you ask her out?" Hanna asked.

"She asked me out, and no I don't know. I would assume the Grille, but I don't know," I answered. "Where are Aria and Ezra going, by the way?"

"Why, are you afraid that she might see you out with your mystery girl?" Hanna asked with a smirk. I narrowed my eyes at her, and she rolled hers. "They're going to some fancy restaurant, don't worry. You probably won't run into her. Oh! Let me see your shoes!" I rolled my eyes and turned the camera downward so that she could see my shoes. "Flats? Really?"

"Hey," I snapped, "they match my outfit, okay? I'm not going to wear four inch heels."

"Why?" Hanna asked. Leave it to her to ask why I didn't want to wear heels. Hanna probably slept in her heels.

"Hanna, the girl I'm going out with is already like an inch shorter than me. I'm not going to wear heels," I stated, shaking my head at her.

"Well, what if she wears heels?" Hanna demanded.

"Then she'll be a couple inches taller than me," I said, shaking my head at the blonde. "I have to finish getting ready. I'll text you when I'm back tonight."

"Okay. I'm looking forward to hearing all about this girl tomorrow!" Hanna said, and then the call ended.

"Trust me, you'll be much less excited when you hear about her," I muttered to myself as I continued to look at myself in the mirror. I fluffed my hair a little and then found myself date ready. Smiling at myself in the mirror one last time, I checked that I had my phone and then grabbed my purse before heading out the door. It was time for my date with Alison DiLaurentis.

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	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Ayy! First of all... WOW! YOU GUYS AND YOUR REVIEWS MAKE ME SOOOOOO HAPPY! Seriously, you have no idea how happy you guys make me :)**

**So now I'm going to make you all happy c: You all have been waiting so patiently haha ;) Some of you not as patiently but that doesn't really bother me haha ;P**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own PLL!**

**PLEASE enjoy, favorite, follow and REVIEW!**

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I was freaking out for the entire elevator ride down to the first floor. Once I got there, I took a moment to collect myself before walking out of my dorm. I slipped my phone into my purse and tried not to hyperventilate. Then I took one final deep breath and walked outside.

Alison was waiting for me, and as soon as she saw me, a smile appeared on her face. "Hey," she greeted.

"Hey," I returned, wetting my lips nervously. I let my eyes sweep over Ali. She was wearing skinny jeans that were a lighter color than mine, and a light pink blouse. She was wearing heels, but they weren't very high, so we were about the same height. "I like your outfit."

Ali smiled at me, and then her eyes dropped to look at my outfit. "I so knew that blouse would look good on you, but it looks even better than I imagined," she commented, and I blushed. She looked back up at me. "Are you ready to go?"

I nodded, and she started to lead me to her car. I wasn't the biggest car person, but I could tell that her nice, red, convertible car was pretty impressive. I figured that I shouldn't really be surprised, though. As she took out her car keys, she fumbled a little with them before sliding the start key into the ignition. "Are you nervous?" I asked her suddenly. I wasn't sure if I'd meant to ask that. It was like I'd thought it and then just asked without thinking about what I was doing.

"Maybe a little," Ali admitted, and I blinked, a little surprised at the admission. "I've never really done this before."

"Done what?" I wondered.

"Like… gone out with a girl," Alison answered, shrugging as she pulled out of the parking lot. A billion questions were running through my mind, but I couldn't ask any of them. Ali, however, seemed to want to answer them anyway. "I'm not gay, Em."

I nodded that I understood, but I was a little confused as to why she said that.

"I mean, I guess I'm bi," Ali further explained, "but you're the first girl that I've ever wanted to ask out on a date."

"Oh," is all I managed to say. I was pretty sure that my vocal cords were all tangled up inside my throat.

Ali gave me a sideways glance from the driver's seat. "What's wrong?" she asked me, and it wasn't that surprising that she'd noticed me being weird. I took a shaky breath.

"I'm nervous, too," I answered.

"Do I make you nervous?" Alison asked, frowning.

I shook my head. "No. Well, not in a bad way. I just… I like you and that's why I'm nervous."

I would have bet money that I saw something like relief wash over Alison's beautiful face, and some of the tension that I'd sensed from her disappeared. "I like you, too, Em."

My heart felt like it was just about to explode as it picked up its rate. I looked at Alison carefully as she stared ahead to drive. "So, where are we going?" I wondered, still keeping my eyes on her.

Ali inhaled, and answered with, "Just the Grille. I know that's not real fancy or anything—"

"It's perfect," I interrupted, because now that I knew how nervous Alison was, I felt much less nervous. Ever since before I even met her, Ali had always just seemed really intimidating. Since she started talking to me, some of that had seemed to go away, but now, she didn't feel intimidating to me at all. And I liked that.

Ali flashed me a shy smile, and then pulled into a parallel parking spot. We were already at the Grille—it wasn't a long drive from the Hollis campus. I got out of the car at the same time as Alison did, and then we walked into the restaurant. We got seated and gave the waiter our drink orders, and then once he was gone, we started talking again.

"What's your major?" I wondered, looking between my menu and the blonde sitting across from me.

"Finance," Alison answered, shrugging.

"Me too," I commented, furrowing my eyebrows a little bit. Hollis wasn't that big of a school, and there was like a fifty percent chance that Ali and I would have multiple of the same classes if we were majoring in the same thing.

"We don't have any classes together," Ali stated, furrowing her eyebrows. She must've been thinking the same thing I was.

"Maybe next year," I said, shrugging and giving her a smile. When I smiled at her, a pink tinge appeared on her cheeks as she returned it.

"Before college, I had no idea what I wanted to do," Ali admitted. "I only decided on finance because it has some professions that I can actually see myself being in, you know?"

I nodded. "I know, same. I used to swim a lot at Rosewood High, but I messed up my shoulder and blew all chances of a scholarship."

Alison frowned. "That really sucks."

I shrugged. "It's better now, so I can swim whenever, but I just don't see myself doing that in the long run anymore." Ali nodded that she understood. "Where did you go to high school, by the way?"

"Uh, Rosewood Day School. You know, the private school?" Ali asked, and I nodded that I knew what she was talking about. The school was across the town from Rosewood High, and it wasn't very big, considering how only people with a lot of money to afford to send their kids there. I had been offered the opportunity to go there, actually, but they didn't have a swim team and, at the time, it was really important for me that I be on a swim team. "I actually kind of wanted to go to public school, but my parents were really insistent about sending me to private school."

"Why?" I wondered, giving her a curious look.

Ali shrugged. "I don't know."

"What can I get you ladies today?" our waiter suddenly asked as he approached us. We both just ordered our food quickly and then the waiter told us that it would be out soon.

"So, why did you _want_ to go to public school?" I questioned.

"I didn't want to be the uptight, rich, private school girl," Alison answered, shrugging. "I wanted to go to a school where I didn't have to wear a strict uniform everyday. Those things were so ugly."

I laughed a little at that, and Ali smiled when she heard me laugh. "Yeah, I saw those uniforms once. They were pretty unflattering."

Ali smirked. "At least we don't have to wear uniforms in college."

"Thank goodness for that," I agreed, chuckling.

"So, you didn't get a swim scholarship. Is that why you stayed in Rosewood even though you want to get out?" Ali asked, and I remembered when I told Alison that on her birthday.

"I guess. Plus, my friends were going into Hollis and I didn't have a problem getting in either. It was a safe bet. Who knows, I may not even ever get out of Rosewood," I said, shrugging.

"I bet you could if you wanted," Ali argued. "You have it in you."

I smiled, and searched my mind for something to say. "Is that one of the things you found out about me by what type of coffee I drink?"

Ali's cheeks turned pink. "I lied about that. I don't know anything about coffee," she admitted. "I just wanted to know what kind you drink in case I ever decide to buy you one."

Now a blush rose to my cheeks. "Oh," I said, words escaping me. Suddenly, our waiter appeared with our plates of food. I'd gotten just some plain chicken salad, and Alison had gotten something that looked like some kind of caprese.

We both started to pick at our food, no longer speaking. At first the silence felt sort of awkward, but it went away after a little bit. It just felt normal, like we were both just eating and couldn't talk, which was legitimate. As Ali started to finish up her food, she asked, "Have you lived in Rosewood your whole life?"

"Yeah," I answered. "My parents moved here before I was born, because they wanted to be somewhere safe and small and nice. My dad is in the military, so he wasn't home much and he wanted my mom to be in a nice place while he couldn't be there."

Ali nodded in understanding.

"What about you? Have you always been here?" I wondered.

Alison shook her head. "I lived in Georgia before my family moved here. That's where my grandma lives. I only lived there for a couple of years, though, so I don't really remember living there."

Our waiter approached us. "Are you ladies ready to pay?" he asked. Ali and I exchanged a quick glance to confirm that we were both done, and then Alison nodded at the waiter, who set our bill on the table.

Ali snatched the thing before I could even consider trying to pay, and I found a smile playing on my face because of that. Once Ali's card was promptly sitting inside the bill, the waiter came and took it back to go ring it up. "Thank you for dinner, Ali," I said, smiling at the blonde.

Alison returned the smile. "We have to do it again sometime."

"That sounds like a plan," I agreed, and Ali's smile widened into almost a grin. Our waiter came back with the check and bid us a good night, and Ali and I got up from our table.

As we walked out of the Grille and back toward her car, Ali said to me, "Thanks for going out with me, Em."

"I had fun," I told her, flashing her a smile as we got back into her car. The quick drive back to the dorms was silent, but again, it wasn't an awkward sort of silent.

When she parked back in the dorm parking lot, we got out of the car and walked side by side back into the building. I wanted to say something, but I wasn't sure what I was supposed to say now. My brief period of having my words completely under my control around Alison seemed to be gone, and maybe it was the same for her.

We got into the elevator together, and I decided that if I wanted a goodbye kiss, which I really did at this point, I had to step up for myself. She clicked the third floor button and I clicked the fifth floor button, and I knew that I had to step up right now or I wouldn't have time. "Ali," I started, "thanks again for taking me out. I really did enjoy dinner."

Alison smiled at me. "So did I," she agreed. Our gazes were locked for a few seconds, and as I heard the elevator make a quiet beep noise to indicate that we were at floor two, I decided not to hesitate anymore. I leaned toward Ali and our lips met timidly. After hovering there for a moment, I decided that Ali wasn't freaked out or anything, and I pressed our lips together.

Ali moved her lips against mine as I moved mine against hers, and I felt suddenly completely light headed. I felt like I was floating up on cloud nine. There was a loud ding as we reached the third floor, and I carefully pulled away from Alison, my eyes flickering open again. For half a second after I pulled away, Alison's eyes stayed closed.

When she opened them, her cheeks flushed a dark pink. "I'll… see you later," she said in a shy voice. I nodded in agreement, biting my lower lip, as she stepped out of the elevator. "Bye."

"Bye," I returned as the elevator door slid closed. As soon as she was out of sight, I leaned against the metal bar against one side of the elevator wall for support. Kissing Ali was something I never would've been able to imagine. And now I was glad that I wouldn't have to just imagine it, because I'd just done it. I'd kissed her, and she'd kissed me back.

I got to the fifth floor and I made my way back to my dorm in a dreamy state. I was lucky that Aria was still out when I got to the dorm, because she would've totally caught me looking all dreamy.

I texted Hanna that I was back, and she texted me back saying that Aria had texted her saying that she was going to Ezra's and that she may not be back until morning.

That was fine with me, because I spent about an hour laying in my bed and staring at the ceiling, thinking about this amazing blonde that I'd gone from hating to dating in two weeks. And I was so glad that I had.

_AAA_

I entered my dorm room still completely shocked by that kiss. I had been too chicken to kiss to Emily, which is why I was so glad that she hadn't been as scared about it. Emily's lips were so soft, and kissing them made my brain completely fuzzy, like way fuzzier than I had ever felt around Emily.

Spencer must of noticed that, and that wasn't a big surprise, considering that I barely even noticed that she was in the room. "Wow, must've been a good date."

I closed the door to the dorm and forced my eyes to focus on Spencer. "What?" I asked, not sure that I heard her over the sound of my mental freak out session.

"Your date with Emily? It was good?" she asked me, and I nodded, going around Spencer's bed to plop down on mine. "Care to tell me about it?"

I blinked and refocused on Spencer. "What?" I asked.

"Were you drinking or are you just high off of Emily?" Spencer demanded, snapping her fingers in front of my face.

"I wasn't drinking," I said, shaking my head. "I was driving, remember?"

"Okay, now that you can speak in sentences, why don't you tell me how it went?" Spencer suggested, and I tried to focus on anything other than the fact that Emily had just kissed me and it felt like the rest of the world had been whisked away right under my feet.

"It was really good," I forced out. "We talked a lot, like about school and stuff. And some other stuff. Um. She said she had a good time."

"That's good," Spencer said, her tone of voice asking for more.

"She's so gorgeous," I breathed out, picturing Emily in that top.

Spencer snapped in front of my face again. "Geez. What the hell?"

"Sorry," I apologized, even though I totally wasn't sorry. "I'm just… Emily kissed me in the elevator and I can't really think straight."

Spencer snorted at the irony of my statement, and I finally focused enough to glare at her. She laughed at my glare. "So, I guess you _really_ like her?"

I nodded, sighing. "I totally can't believe it went that well."

"Are you going to be this dreamy sounding all the time? Because if not, I'm going to get out my phone so I can at least get a video of you being totally out of it from a _kiss_," Spencer teased.

I glared at her again, and she just laughed at me.

_EEE_

The next morning, I woke up to a text from Aria.

**From Aria- I'll be back in a few minutes. Get Hanna to come up to the dorm and we'll talk. ;)**

I took a nervous breath. I was really nervous about what my best friends would think when I told them about me and Alison. Trying to shake away some of the nerves, I texted Hanna to come up to mine and Aria's dorm. Just a minute later, Hanna was barging into the dorm, with Aria in tow. They must've met up in the elevator.

"How were your guys' dates?" Hanna asked us both.

"Mine was excellent," Aria answered. "Ezra and I had a… good night."

Hanna smirked, and neither of us pushed Aria for much more of an explanation. They both looked down at me on my bed, and I gave them a half smile. "My date was good."

"Yes!" Hanna exclaimed, sitting across from me on Aria's bed. Aria sat down next to Hanna.

"Time for you to spill," Aria reminded me.

I took a deep breath. "Okay, but you have to promise to keep an open mind." Aria and Hanna exchanged weird looks, and then raised their eyebrows at me. "Last night, my date was with Alison DiLaurentis."

Four eyes widened immensely in front of me. "What?" Hanna demanded.

"You went out on a _date_ with Alison DiLaurentis?" Aria demanded. "AKA, the _bitchiest_ girl in Pennsylvania? What the hell Emily?"

"Explain!" Hanna snapped.

I sighed. This was what I'd been expecting. "I met her about two weeks ago on that day that she had to go to the party for Mona, and she was a bitch to me, just like I told you."

"So what changed?" Aria demanded.

"The next day, she came and returned the shirt, like I said, but I lied to you. She didn't say anything about my comment the previous day, but she apologized for being a bitch and she asked for my name and she said thank you and she was just… not at all what she was the day before," I admitted.

"Emily—" Hanna started, but I wasn't done talking.

"Look, she came back to the clothing store later and we talked, and it was her who invited me—us—to her birthday party. I stayed at the party to hang out with her and she gave me her number on Sunday and she was the one who I grabbed coffee with and then on Tuesday she asked me out," I explained in a rush. I wanted them to know the whole thing before they judged me.

Aria bit her lip nervously. "Em, I totally get all that, but come on… you and I both know how horrible she is."

"She's not horrible to me," I argued. "She's sweet."

Hanna puffed out her cheeks and raised her eyebrows. I gave her a look that dared her to say something. "Emily, I just think you're kind of being naïve about this. Bitches like her will do a lot of things to get to where they want to end up."

I shook my head. "You don't know anything about her, okay?"

"Okay," Aria said, before Hanna could say something else. "It's just… haven't you considered the fact that she might be using you?"

"Using me for what?" I demanded. "How many cool points do you think she's getting for going out with a girl?"

Aria didn't say anything, she just exchanged a concerned look with Hanna. "Emily… I just don't trust her, okay? Two weeks ago, you didn't trust her either, remember?"

I looked up at the ceiling, and I felt tears coming to my eyes. I may have only been on one date with Alison, but I _really_ liked her, and I wasn't about to force myself to stop liking her juts because my friends thought that she was terrible. "Look, you guys. You don't have to accept it. I mean, I would love it if you did, but you don't have to. I like Ali, a lot, and—"

"_Ali_?" Hanna demanded. I huffed and put my hand on my forehead.

"I have to go. I think I have a shift soon," I muttered.

"You're still wearing pajamas," Aria commented.

I bit down on my tongue and grabbed some things from my dresser, along with my phone and my purse. "I'll change on my way down." And then I left. I was so done with that conversation anyway.

* * *

**Ali after that kiss XD**

**Likeee? Loveeee? Hateeeee? Please let me know in a review or a PM! Also, please follow me on Twitter at BrittzandTana ! If you tweet me that you read this, I will follow you BACK! That's also the easiest location for you to bug me to update by the way ;P Some of you already do that XD**

**I really hope you liked this chapter, because I think I wrote it pretty well. I wish that the last scene with Emily and Hanna and Aria coulda been nicer, but ya know, gotta have drama somewhere...**

**Also: I just read the first PLL book, and that's where I got Rosewood Day from. I know that obviously in the book, it had a swim team but ya know, this is an AU fic so I'll do what I want :P**

**I've gotta go, my dad took the night off work so me and my sister are going to play video games with him XD :P**

**Have a great night my lovelies! Please review!**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Update:D Sorry if the date seemed sort of short, but I'm so glad that you guys loved the last chapter c:**

**SHOUTOUT SHOUTOUT! Damn! We're almost caught up with RIMS as far as reviews on this story! So... 150th reviewer was guest reviewer Emison is life! Thank you all for reviewing! Your reviews make me smile soooooo wide =D**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own PLL!**

**PLEASE enjoy, favorite, follow and REVIEW!**

* * *

I changed in the bathrooms on Hanna's floor, stuffing my pajamas in my purse. I did my makeup down there, too, and then I left before Hanna or Aria tried to find me. I had expected just as much as I'd got from them, but still had hoped that they would at least try to understand.

Though, there was still a small part of me that considered that Ali was messing with me. But if that were true, why would she have flat out pointed out that I probably thought she was doing it? Why would she risk making me thinking about that if she actually was messing with me?

I thought back to what Ali told me on our date. She told me that she liked me, and why should I believe that she was lying, other than the fact that I used to think she was a bitch who couldn't ever stop lying? My stomach twisted up inside of me as I drove to my work. I was a little early, so I walked around the block and back around to the store. I tried and tried to sort through all of my thoughts.

When I started my shift, the Saturday shopping rush hadn't really started yet, which was the only reason that I answered Aria's phone call when I got it. "Hey," she greeted, her voice soft.

"Hey," I returned, my voice coming out stiff.

"I'm really sorry about earlier, Emily," Aria immediately apologized. "You must've seen something in Alison that made you trust her… I just haven't seen anything like that, so you can understand why I don't trust her."

"Yeah, I understand." I did, I did understand.

"Maybe one day I'll meet her and then I'll see what you saw, Em, but until then, I just won't feel completely comfortable about you dating her," Aria stated. I nodded, and then realized that she couldn't see me.

"Okay."

"But, Em, I'm going to respect your decision. It's not my place to tell you that she shouldn't go out with Alison. I can't really speak for Hanna, because I think she's a little more taken aback by this than I am," Aria explained.

"Thanks," is all I said.

"Really, I am sorry, Em," Aria apologized, "I'll see you later."

The line ended, and the almost immediately after, Hanna called me. I bit the inside of my cheek as I answered. "Emily," Hanna started instantly, sounding definitely harsher than Aria had sounded, "I really don't think that you should trust Alison. I hear all sorts of things about her, you know? I just don't want you to get hurt."

I bit down harder on my cheek, and then I suddenly tasted blood and I released it. "Hanna, thanks for the concern, but I really think you have her wrong."

"It's not like all those bad things she's done are made up!" Hanna exclaimed.

"Hanna, I already told you why I don't hate her anymore, and I'm not going to do it again. Thanks for the concern, really. I'm glad that you care about me. But you have to trust me on this one."

A pause on the other end of the line. "Emily, I just think that maybe you shouldn't see her anymore."

I huffed, and then hung up. I loved Hanna, really. She was one of my best friends, and she was just trying to be a protective friend, but I didn't need that right now. I needed a supportive friend right now.

I glanced down at my phone, but before I could consider anything, someone approached the counter to check out.

A good couple of hours passed before the Saturday shopping rush passed, and I was free to go back on my phone until my shift was over. I pulled up my contact list and started to scroll down the list alphabetically. I didn't get far, though, because I stopped at Ali's name.

Running my hand through my hair nervously, I clicked on her name and held the phone up to my ear. After a couple of rings, I was starting to fear that she wasn't going to pick up, but then she did. "Hey," she greeted as soon as she answered.

"Hey, are you busy?" I asked, swallowing thickly.

"Depends on what else you're about to ask me," Ali teased, and I couldn't help the smile that appeared on my face.

"My shift ends in about ten minutes. Can you meet me here?" I asked, and the I chewed on my tongue nervously as I waited for a response.

"Uh, yeah, I can do that. I'll be there in a few," Alison answered, and I could hear the smile in her voice.

"Cool, see you in a few, then," I said, and then I hung up. I almost felt bad for hanging out with Alison right after Hanna told me that she didn't think I should anymore, but Hanna couldn't control me or tell me what to do.

As my shift was ending, and I was gathering up all my stuff and making sure that my pajamas were still stuffed in the bottom of my purse, I heard the door to the store open. I glanced over and saw Alison walking in with two coffees in hand. The smile that appeared on my face was involuntary.

She came up to the counter and smiled at me, sliding the coffee across. I grabbed. "Thanks," I said, walking out from behind the counter. I took a sip of the coffee.

"See, that's why I had to know what kind you drank," Ali reminded me, smirking at me a little bit. "So what do you want to do?"

"Can we just walk a little bit?" I asked as we left the store. I spotted Ali's car parked neatly next to mine.

"Sure," Ali answered, and we turned away from the cars and started walking down the sidewalk. "Are you okay? You sound kind of stressed out."

I took a sip of my Americano coffee. It tasted a lot better when Ali got it for me, if that made sense. "I am," I answered. "This morning, I told my friends that it was you I went out with last night."

Ali wet her lip-gloss covered lips with her tongue, and I took that sign of nervousness. "What did they say?" she asked.

"Let's just say that it was nothing good," I answered, sighing. Ali frowned.

"I'm sorry," she said.

I shook my head. "Don't worry about it. I just need to get my mind off of them." I looked at Ali and felt my throat tighten. She was wearing a black skirt, a white top and then a tight black jacket that I decided was leather. Her golden curls were cascading over her shoulders. Next to her, I felt unpretty.

"What?" Ali asked me in a small voice, and I realized that I was still staring at her.

I glanced away from her and just cleared my throat, taking another sip of my coffee. I looked back at Alison and asked her suddenly, "What kind do you drink?"

Ali looked down at her coffee. "It's just a caramel macchiato," she answered, shrugging. "Why?"

"In case I decide to buy _you_ a coffee next time," I said, a smile playing on my face. I was surprised at how not intimidated I felt right now, but I was kind of glad about it. That meant I was feeling more comfortable around Ali, right?

Ali smiled. Suddenly, my phone rang. I looked at who was calling and immediately declined it. "Who was it?" Alison asked.

"Hanna," I answered, slipping my phone back into my pocket.

"They _really_ don't like me, huh?" Alison asked.

I took a deep breath. "They think that you're just going out with me because there's something in it for you."

"There is," Ali said, her voice sounding nervous. "You."

I couldn't fight the smile that appeared on my face, but then I forced it to drop. "You know what I mean, Ali."

Alison sighed and nodded. "I know," she agreed. "Em, I promise that I'm not just doing this to mess with you or something. Look, you could even ask Spencer. I was totally like loopy last night after you kissed me."

I blinked, raising my eyebrows at her a little bit. Ali's cheeks flushed red once she realized that she'd just said that.

"Ah," she said, as if trying to regain whatever confidence she'd had before, "yeah."

I chuckled, and nudged her slightly. She flashed me a bashful smile.

"Well hello there!" a voice I didn't recognize immediately said suddenly. I stopped walking at the same time as Alison did, and looked up to see Spencer.

"Spencer," Ali said in a warning voice, but the brunette didn't seem to care.

"You must be Emily!" Spencer said, extending a hand. "I'm Spencer. I think we met briefly at Alison's birthday celebration."

"Yeah, I think so," I agreed, shaking her hand nervously. I glanced at Ali, and she just rolled her eyes at Spencer.

"Is this a date?" Spencer asked, looking at Alison pointedly.

"This is coffee, Spence," Ali said. "You know, that stuff that you chug twenty-four seven so that you can stare at your computer without falling asleep?"

Spencer rolled her eyes. "Fine, I'll get lost." She looked back at me. "It was nice to finally really meet you, Emily."

"Uh yeah, you too," I said, and then she walked away. "She seems nice."

"She's crazy," Ali said suddenly, walking again. It took me a second to realize that she was, and I hurried to catch up to her. "In a good way, I mean."

"Well she still seems nice," I commented, and Ali smiled at me for a reason that I wasn't entirely sure of. Then, on some random bit of courage that I pulled out of my ass, I told her, "You look really nice today, by the way."

Ali blushed instantly and looked down at herself. "Oh. Thanks." She looked at me. "So do you."

I shook my head. "I didn't even look at what these clothes were before I put them on this morning."

"Doesn't matter," Ali declared. "You'd look nice in anything."

Now I felt myself blushing, and suddenly, Ali had her arm hooked with mine. Even though my bare arm was just against her jacket, it felt great to be so close to her.

I smiled at her, and then I looked around at where we'd ended up. I saw the Brew across the street, which meant that we had walked a couple of blocks by now. Then I spotted a head of light blonde hair and an angry face across the street, and the owner of those things was headed right our way. "Oh no," I muttered, unhooking my arm from Ali's.

Ali followed my gaze and we both stopped walking. "Um…" Ali glanced at me and I sighed, walking forward a little bit to intercept Hanna.

"What are you doing?" Hanna demanded.

"Hanna—" I started in a warning voice.

"You totally hung up on me earlier! What the hell?" Hanna demanded. "And now you're just strolling around with her like you've known her all your life?"

"Hanna—" I tried again, but she wasn't done.

"You know I'm just trying to help right? I don't want you to get hurt!" Hanna exclaimed.

"Hanna!" I snapped. "Look, I know that you're trying to help, and I told you that I appreciate that. But I'm not just going to back out of whatever this is because there is a possibility that I'm going to get hurt, alright? So just back off, please."

Hanna searched my face, and then glanced over my shoulder. I glanced back too, and saw Alison staring down at the lid on her coffee. I looked back at Hanna, who rolled her eyes. "Whatever. Talk later." And then she was leaving.

I sighed and turned back around and walked over to Ali. She looked up and flipped a little bit of her hair out of her face. "You okay?" she asked me.

I nodded, but I really wanted to ask her if _she_ was okay. "Come on, let's head back." Ali nodded, and we turned back and started back for where our cars were. "I'm sorry," I said suddenly, "about Hanna. She's just trying to be a good friend."

"She's trying to protect you from the beast that is Alison DiLaurentis," Ali revised, nodding that she understood. I frowned.

"Ali…" My voice trailed off, but Ali glanced at me and looked me up and down. She smiled suddenly.

"It's fine," she insisted. "You don't have anything to be sorry about. It's not your fault."

We walked in silence for a few minutes, and I wished that Ali would hook her arm through mine again, but she didn't. I took another sip of my coffee, which was starting to get cold. "Maybe," I said suddenly, "if they really met you, they wouldn't hate you anymore."

Ali glanced at me. "Well maybe, if they didn't hate me, they would consider really meeting me."

"I'm serious, Alison," I argued. Ali glanced at me and sighed.

"You make me nervous, Em," Alison admitted suddenly, and I raised both of my eyebrows. _I_ made _her_ nervous? "I'm scared that I'm going to say or do the wrong thing when I'm around you. I was too scared to even try to kiss you last night. I can barely keep my legs from turning to jelly when you look at me."

Our gazes were locked as we walked, and I waited to see if she was going to say anything else.

And she was, "It hasn't been all that long since I met you, and obviously we only had our first date yesterday, but I _really_ like you. I don't want anything to mess up what we might have."

"I don't either," I said, wondering where exactly this was going.

"I'm afraid that your friends are going to try to do that," Ali admitted, breaking our eye contact, and I frowned. "So if you think that them 'really' meeting me will make them not hate me, we can do it."

I let out a quiet breath as I looked ahead of us. "Maybe the five of us could get together. Like, you and Spencer, and me and my friends."

Ali nodded. "I think that would be a good idea."

"I'll set it up," I told her, deciding that if she wasn't going to hook her arm with mine, I was going to do it. Once I did, she smiled at me.

"Okay," she agreed. "I'm free next Saturday if you want to set it up for then."

"Okay," I said, smiling at her. "Aren't you supposed to have plans every Saturday for your image?" I was just teasing, and she knew that.

"Em, I'm always free for you," Ali said, giving me a shy smile. I'd already realized that, but it felt weird to hear her say it. We were back at our cars, and my coffee was empty.

I smiled at her. "Thanks for dropping whatever it was that you were doing to come walk with me. I really needed it."

Alison smiled back at me. "Anytime, Emily," she said, and something in her voice told me that she really meant that. "And I'll be waiting for that coffee you plan on buying me," she told me teasingly.

I bit back a grin. Then, simultaneously, we both leaned forward so that our lips met carefully in between us. It was like a shock of electricity sent through my entire body. Our lips moved softly against one another's, and I felt Ali's free hand rest itself on my arm. I brought my free hand up the side of her head, touching her hair. I pulled her a little closer to me, and my hand slid down to her neck.

A few seconds after that, we pulled apart. Ali's cheeks were bright red again, and I felt mine blushing similarly. She bit her lower lip as she smiled at me. "I'll call you," she told me.

"I'll be waiting," I told her, my heart beating faster than normal. She licked over her lips, and I tried not to realize how sexy that was. She stepped backwards away from me, gave me one last smile, and then got in her car. I took a deep breath and went to get into my car as well. Alison was going to be the death of me.

* * *

**AWWW c: I hope that this chapter was alright...**

**So... please let me know your thoughts in a quick review or a PM c: Also, please follow me on Twitter at BrittzandTana ! Tweet me that you read this and I'll follow you back!**

**TCAs were earlier tonight c: Who watched? Demi totally slaaaaaaayed *heart eyes*. I was so torn when Lucy got her award because I totally wanted Troian to win too but like ahhh couldn't they both have won?! And yaya PLL won :D And Sasha won too, ofc because she's AMAZING! And Ashley won too woo =) Even though Shay didn't win, we all know that she's totally amaaaaazing just like Troian =) And ya know, they all won bc PLL and yeaaah :) And yay for Nina and Ian and then the Tyler and the other Ian haha... yeah anyway I'm happy about the winners (mostly... Glee didn't win the comedy show. Kinda annoyed about that, but ya know, it hasn't really been the greatest recently... soo... sadface though.)**

**Okay so that's my rant about the TCAs! I've actually gotta go to bed soon (so I don't stay up until 4am and wake up at 1:30pm like I did last night)... soo yeah lol.**

**Goodnight lovelies! Please review! :D**


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: I have friends over, so I don't have time to reread this. I just know that after PLL tonight, we all need some Emison. So here you all go :)**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own PLL!**

**PLEASE enjoy, favorite, follow and REVIEW!**

* * *

"Why am I here?" Hanna demanded. "Aren't you like super pissed at me?"

"Maybe a little, but not as pissed as you're about to be at me," I told her, and then I looked between her and Aria. We were all sitting on the floor of my and Aria's dorm, eating Chinese food that I had picked up.

Hanna pursed her lips, waiting for whatever it was that I was about to tell her. "Next Saturday, we're all hanging out."

"And this is supposed to make me pissed because…?" Hanna looked at me incredulously.

"We're hanging out with Alison and Spencer," I stated, bracing myself.

"What?" Hanna demanded. "Why?"

"Because she and I both think that if you meet her, you might not hate her as much," I stated. Aria nodded, but she didn't say anything. "Please guys, it's really important to me."

Aria immediately piped up and said, "Okay, Em. I guess there's no way we'll ever know if we like the Alison that you see unless we meet her, right?"

"What?' Hanna demanded. "Seriously?"

"Also, since we need a space to hang out, I might be able to get Ezra to let us use his place," Aria suggested. "He uh… mentioned that he was going to be out of Pennsylvania next weekend."

"That would be awesome," I agreed.

"Hold us, is this really happening?" Hanna demanded. I glared at her.

"Yes, it is," I snapped. "Like I told you earlier, Hanna, I really like Alison and believe it or not, she likes me back. And I don't want you hating on me for dating her until you've at least properly met her once."

Hanna huffed, and Aria kicked her. Hanna shot her a glare. "Come on, Han. We need to be supportive for Emily, okay?" Hanna looked between Aria and me, and then she sighed.

"Okay, I'll try. But I don't think I'm going to see this saint of a person you suddenly see in Alison DiLaurentis," Hanna said. I tried not to role my eyes. I didn't think that Ali was a saint. She had flaws, just like everyone did. That didn't make her a horrible person.

Instead, I just let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you, Hanna. Really."

Hanna just nodded, avoiding eye contact with me. We all went back to eating our Chinese, and none of us spoke. I really hoped that after today, at least me and Aria could go back to normal. I hated this awkwardness that was going on.

Hanna left after she finished eating, claiming that she had homework, and Aria moved onto her bed to start some of her own homework after she helped me clean up the garbage.

I was seated on my own bed, doing my own homework on my laptop, when my phone suddenly rang. The caller ID showed that it was Ali, and I glanced over at Aria nervously. I didn't hesitate for long, though, and I answered the call, "Hey," I greeted, and I felt Aria glance at me.

"Hey, so Spencer and I are good for next Saturday," Alison told me. I wasn't sure why she couldn't have just texted me that, but I didn't really mind that she'd called. I liked hearing her voice.

"Okay good. We're all good for it too," I told her. "Aria might be able to get us a place to go that's bigger than one of these stupid dorm rooms."

Aria was still looking at me, but I ignored it and stared at my computer screen, even though all of my attention had shifted to my phone call and I was no longer paying attention to what was open on the screen. "Cool. I think that Spence is hoping she'll somehow get a chance to one up Aria."

I smirked. "Sorry, but I don't see that happening."

"Oh are we taking sides?" Ali asked in a teasing way.

I smiled. "I guess we don't have to," I said. It was a lot easier to not feel incredibly nervous about talking to Alison when I wasn't looking at her beautiful blue eyes and her perfectly shaped face framed by golden curls.

"Good, because I like picking the winning side and right now, Spencer is losing, so," Ali joked, and then I heard the sound of something hitting something else on the other end of the line, followed by some giggles. "Sorry, Spencer just hurled her pillow at me."

I couldn't help but smile. I liked that Ali let me see this side of her.

"So, um, I don't want to be like weird or anything, but do you want to hang out tomorrow?" Alison asked suddenly.

"Why does asking that make you weird?" I wondered.

"Because we went out yesterday and we hung out today," Ali answered, and then she rushed to say, "never mind. Are you doing anything tomorrow?"

"Umm…" I bit my lip as I tried to remember what time I was working the next day. "I think I'm working the closing shift at the store tomorrow. It starts at like two. The place closes at seven on Sundays. I can do lunch or coffee or something?"

"Yeah, how about coffee?" Ali agreed. "Like, at noon?"

"Works for me," I agreed, smiling.

"Good," Ali said on the other end of the line, and I suddenly realized that she was just like two floors below me. We were so close, and we had been for at least the entire last semester since we got these dorm assignments. And we'd never known each other. It was almost an eerie thought. "Hey, I have to go. I'll see you tomorrow at the Brew?"

"Yep, you will," I answered, smiling to myself. "Bye, Ali."

"Bye, Em!"

The line ended and I set down my phone, looking back at my computer and trying to ignore the fact that I felt Aria's eyes on me still. I had almost, _almost_, forgotten that she was there while I was talking to Ali.

Finally, she spoke, "That was Alison?"

I glanced over at her. "Um, yeah."

"You sound pretty comfortable talking to her," Aria commented, and I tried not to read into the comment.

"Well, it's getting a lot easier to talk to her," I stated. Aria raised an eyebrow at me.

"Easier?" she wondered.

I shrugged. "Alison can be a little intimidating." Aria raised both of her eyebrows, and I guessed that there were a few not very nice things that she wanted to say, but I was happy when she didn't say them.

"Does she make you nervous?" Aria asked.

"Well, yeah," I answered, shrugging. "Anyone that you like makes you nervous. And I make her nervous, too, believe it or not."

"You know what I meant," Aria said, and I sighed.

"I'm not _scared_ of her, Aria," I insisted, and she nodded, like she just wanted to hear me say that out loud.

"She made you smile a lot," Aria commented, and I glanced over at her. She just flashed me a smile, before getting up. "I'm going to head to the bathroom and then I'm going to sleep. Coming?"

"Yeah," I answered, closing my laptop and then tagging along with her to the bathrooms. I had a feeling that Aria would come around about me and Alison a lot faster than Hanna would.

The next morning, after I let myself sleep in a little later than normal, I got all ready for my coffee with Alison. I was determined to be here before her, because I was determined to buy her coffee for her. That might be kind of weird, but she'd already paid for a dinner and a coffee for me, and it was my turn.

So at eleven-forty, I got to the Brew and ordered my coffee as well as Ali's, and then took a seat on the empty couch in my favorite spot of the shop. I was lucky that someone was not already sitting there.

At eleven-fifty, Alison walked into the Brew. She probably thought that I would get there at noon, which is why I'd gotten there twenty minutes early instead of ten minutes earlier. As soon as Ali saw me, her head tilted and she raised one of her eyebrows.

I smiled slyly, and she smiled as she started over to me. "You beat me," she stated, taking a seat next to me on the couch.

"It was intentional," I told her, handing her the coffee. "And easy, since I know what you drink."

"I told you that it was an important thing to know," Alison teased, smiling. Her smile was infectious, and I couldn't help but smile as well.

"What do you have planned for today?" I asked her, taking a sip of my coffee.

Alison eyes immediately rolled, as she started to talk, "I have to study," she admitted. I knew what she was talking about, since we had to take the same classes for our major. I had been studying throughout the last week, so I wasn't worried about the upcoming test. Her phone started ringing, and she immediately declined it without even looking. "And avoid Mona."

"Why is she calling you?" I wondered.

"It's finally dawned on her that after the initial shock that I was kicked out of her party, she ended up being the bad guy," Alison answered, shrugging. "She wants us to 'make up', so that people will stop looking at her like she's a bitch. But she is a bitch, and I'm done pretending to be friends with her."

"I've always been sort of surprised that she got so popular anyway. In high school, she totally wasn't," I said. "She was friends with Hanna until college."

"Yeah, I gave that to her," Alison answered, shrugging.

"I know," I told her. I remembered starting my first year of college and nearly a week in finding out that _Mona Vanderwaal_ was suddenly super popular thanks to _the_ Alison DiLaurentis. Ali looked a little uncomfortable for a moment, and she readjusted how she was sitting and took another sip of her coffee.

"What did your friends say about Saturday?" Ali asked suddenly, clearly wanting to change the topic.

"Aria was pretty cool I guess. Hanna is still annoyed about the whole thing, but hopefully she'll at least make an effort," I answered, sighing and taking a longer sip of my coffee, now that it was starting to get cooler.

"I'm actually kind of nervous about really meeting them," Alison admitted, and I raised my eyebrows a little bit. "I mean… what if they still don't like me?"

"They will like you," I promised, smiling. Ali sighed and took another drink of her coffee. "What's your favorite color?" I asked suddenly, and Alison gave me a confused look. "Hey, it's a legitimate question."

"Umm…" Ali thought for a second. "I don't know. Red or pink? Why? What about you?"

"You can tell a lot about a person by their favorite color," I teased, and a blush appeared on Alison's cheeks. Knowing that I could do that to her suddenly made me feel a little bit nervous. "Um, mine is probably blue."

"That makes sense. Blue looks good on you," Ali commented, sipping from her coffee cup nonchalantly. Now, I was blushing. I was actually wearing blue today, and Ali noticed as she glanced down at my top.

"Thanks," I said, smiling.

We spent the next hour or so talking, and after our coffee had depleted, Ali had taken the liberty of buying us both a second one. We talked about anything that came to our minds, and it seemed to be the first time that Alison and I talked so easily to one another. It felt really good to not be so nervous around her, and I hoped it would stay this comfortable.

At one in the afternoon, Alison told me that she had to get back to her dorm to study before Spencer hunted her down. We gave each other a goodbye hug but, to my disappointment, there was no kiss.

I stayed at the Brew for a little while to have a snack that could pass as lunch. At one thirty, I considered walking the few blocks down to my work, but decided that I wouldn't want to walk all the way back after working for five hours. So I got in my car and drove down to the store. I was early, so I spent a little bit of time looking around the clothes to see if there was anything I wanted.

Like usual, there wasn't. I wasn't the kind of girl who needed a lot of clothes all the time, and I only ever bought new stuff for special occasions or if something of mine got torn or worn out or something.

At two, I took over the shift of checking people out, and braced myself for an agonizing five hours.

Monday was boring. I spent all of my free time studying for my test the following day, even though I was pretty sure that I would do fine on it.

On Tuesday, I had to take that stupid test in the morning. It wasn't too bad, but I was a little stressed out about it when I left class. Alison and I texted back and forth a little on Tuesday, but both of us ended up too busy to hang out. Hanna and Aria dragged me out all afternoon, since we hadn't really hung out a lot lately—Aria was always with Ezra in her free time since their second date.

Wednesday was slower, but Alison couldn't hang out because that was the day of her test, and she was forcing Spencer to help her study for it until her class, which was in the afternoon. I would have offered to study with her, but my class on Wednesday was in the morning, which meant that by the time I was getting out, she was going into her first class, and I was going into work.

I didn't really start to feel Alison deprived until Thursday. After my morning class on Thursday, I went to the Brew to get myself a coffee, and it suddenly hit me how much I missed hanging out with Ali, even already. I liked how she made me feel, a little nervous and yet giddy and happy. I liked how she could make me smile without really even trying.

So I left the Brew with my coffee, leaned against the outside wall of the shop, and pulled out my phone to call Alison. She answered after one ring, giving me a please, "Hey, Em!"

"Hey," I returned, a smile immediately coming to my face. "What are you up to?"

"I have a class in a few minutes," Ali answered, and I was pretty sure that she was frowning when she said that, like she knew that meant we wouldn't be able to hang out.

"Do you have any classes tomorrow?" I asked. I doubted that she did, because I was pretty sure that she had at least one class on every other weekday.

"No, do you?" Alison asked.

I felt a smile appear on my face, because no, I didn't have any classes on Friday. "Nope. Do you… wanna go out tomorrow? Maybe for like a movie and then dinner?"

"Yes!" Ali answered instantly, and then she coughed, as if she was embarrassed about answering so fast. "That works for me."

"Cool," I said, biting my lip. "So like… five?"

"Five is perfect," Ali replied, and I could practically hear the grin that was likely on her face.

"Awesome. See you tomorrow," I said, smiling. "Have fun at your class."

"Yeah, 'cause that'll happen," Ali answered sarcastically, and the line ended. I sighed and dropped the hand holding my phone down to my side. I had to wait another whole day before I got to see Alison again, and that made me a little upset.

After my coffee break, I had a short shift at work. When it was over, I went to my car and started driving back to the dorms. When I got there, Aria was on her computer. "What're you doing?" I asked her, bored, as I sat on my bed.

"Nothing," Aria answered, shrugging. "Just studying. Why?"

"I have nothing to do," I answered, pulling out my phone and scrolling pointlessly through my apps.

"Hanna has a class, doesn't she?" Aria asked, and I nodded in response. There wasn't ever a need to think about whether or not Aria or Hanna had a class at a certain time—we had practically tested each other at the beginning of the year to see who remembered all three of our schedules the best. Aria had won, but since then, I had memorized them just as good as Aria. "Is Ali busy?"

I liked that Aria didn't completely ignore the fact that Alison existed, like Hanna had seemed to be doing since I told her that we were all going to hang out with Ali and Spencer on Saturday. "She has a class," I answered, shrugging. "We're going out tomorrow night, though."

"Me and Ezra too," Aria told me. "I think Hanna is going to start getting really frustrated if we end up having dates every Friday."

"She'll probably get someone random to go on a date with her just to force us to wait up for her," I said, and Aria and I both laughed at that.

"Well, do you want to do something this afternoon?" Aria asked. "I don't have to study right now."

"Are you sure?" I asked, perking up.

"Yep!" Aria answered, flashing me a wide smile. The two of us went out on the town for the rest of the afternoon, going into random stores and just having fun. For a little while, I forgot about the fact that I was upset over not being able to hang out with Ali.

On Friday morning, I almost wanted to just sleep all day until like four so that I wouldn't have to feel like I didn't have anything to do until hanging out with Ali. Hanna, however, woke me at exactly ten in the morning, using the power of her cell phone.

I answered her fourth call sleepily, "What, Hanna?"

"Do you have plans today?" she asked.

"Um… not until five," I answered, avoiding mentioning Alison, even though it was obvious that's who I was going to hang out with.

"We're going shopping!" Hanna declared.

I blinked and sat up, rubbing the sleep from my eyes. "What? Now?"

"Yes now! We can stop for breakfast! Come on, you hung out with Aria last night, right? We haven't hung out just the two of us in a couple of weeks!" Hanna reminded me. I sighed and stretched up my arms. I glanced over at Aria's bed and saw that she was already gone. That made sense, because she had a morning class on Fridays.

"Mk… be down in twenty minutes," I muttered. Then I hung up and started to get ready. I said twenty minutes, and Hanna would be expecting me in exactly twenty minutes.

The two of us hung out until four, and we stopped for lunch at the Grille, too. It was nice to hang out with Hanna, but I was still a little frustrated that she was pretending that Ali didn't exist. She didn't even start to gossip once, because she usually gossiped about Alison. I was actually a little happy that she didn't gossip about Ali to me, but I still wished that she could at least act like Ali even existed.

At four, we were back at the dorms. Hanna went back to her dorm room to prepare for a movie night by herself, and I went upstairs to get ready for my second date with Alison.

It didn't take me long to get ready. I changed out of the boring t-shirt I'd been wearing with Hanna and switched it with a black blouse. Then I fixed my hair and my makeup, and once I found myself presentable and it was nearing five, I texted Ali that I would meet her downstairs.

She got there only a minute or so after I did. "Hey," I greeted, biting on my lower lip as she came out of the elevator looking absolutely gorgeous, even though she was just wearing something similar to what I was wearing.

"Hey," she returned. "It feels like it's been forever since we saw each other."

I let out a relieved sigh—she had felt like that, too. We started to walk about of the building, and I said, "It sucks that our classes are all mixed up, or maybe we could see each other more."

Ali nodded. "Yeah. I started to feel Emily deprived," the blonde said as she looped her arm through mine. I tried not to choke on air as she did, and I silently cursed myself for being so nervous right now. Maybe it was because it had been five days since I last talked to her in person.

"Good, I thought it was just me," I finally said, chuckling.

"At least we get to hang out tomorrow, too," Ali reminded me, smiling widely at me.

"Unless you already have plans, I'm going to claim you for Sunday, too," I said boldly, and Ali raised an eyebrow at me, still smiling.

"Oh really?" she asked, and I tried to control the butterflies flying around my stomach.

"Yes, really. Do you have plans?" I asked.

She smiled wider. "I do now." I bit back a grin as we got to my car. She unhooked her arm from mine and we got into our separate sides. I missed the contact, but I had to drive.

"What movie do you want to see?" I asked her.

"I don't know," she answered, and I saw her pulling up her phone, probably to check the movies that were in the theater. "Why does the theater here always show so many creepy black and white movies?"

"I don't know. Aria loves them," I said, shrugging.

"So does Spencer," Ali said back, chuckling. "Let's just pick a random movie when we get there, I don't care what we see."

"Okay," I agreed, and I couldn't keep a smile off of my face.

"How was your week?" Alison wondered.

"Decent, I guess," I answered, shrugging. "Yours?"

"It was okay," Ali answered, "but it would've been better if we'd gotten to hang out."

I tried to ignore the fact that I was now blushing like crazy and stared straight ahead at the road in front of me.

When we got to the theater, we picked one of the random black and white movies to see and found ourselves sitting in the back of one of the old, smaller theaters with one thing of popcorn to share.

The movie started almost as soon as we sat down, and we sat quietly for the first bit, just watching it. After about half an hour, I started to feel nervous. Ali was sitting right next to me—we were even sharing popcorn—but we weren't talking or touching or anything, and it was driving me crazy.

So, pushing away the nerves that I was almost used to feeling by now, I silently inched my hand toward hers. When I gently touched it, I felt it twitch with surprise. After a moment of hesitation, she took my hand and intertwined our fingers.

I let out a shaky, yet relieved, breath at the feeling of her hand in mine. Her skin was so soft, and I loved it. I felt her stroking my skin with her thumb, and I couldn't focus on anything else. I tried to watch the movie, but Ali's hand was totally distracting me.

Probably another half hour passed before I decided that I couldn't really handle it anymore. I turned a little to look at Alison, and she turned her head to look at me at the same time. Our eyes met, and we searched each other's for a moment. Then, she started to lean toward me, and as I saw her eyes closing, I closed mine and met her in the middle for a kiss.

At first, it was tentative and slow, but I gained some confidence and kissed her a little more forcefully. She immediately reciprocated. I started to gain some more confidence, and though I was unsure of where it was coming from, I decided to act on it.

I poked my tongue out of my mouth and slid it carefully across Ali's lower lip. I felt her tense for a moment, but then she parted her lips to let my tongue mesh with hers. At first, I kept the kiss still sort of slow, but then Alison suddenly disconnected her hand from mine and instead she brought it up to the side of my head, and then down to the back of my neck.

I tried to move closer to her, and I knocked our popcorn to the ground. I heard it spill all over the floor. Neither of us really cared, and we just pulled each other closer. Both of her hands were on the back of my neck, and mine were down at her waist.

I felt my lips already getting swollen, but I could care less. Her hands slipped down from my neck and her nails scratched lightly over my back through the fabric of my blouse. My hands somehow ended up against Alison's stomach, under her shirt, and she let out a quiet gasp when she felt me touch her skin.

We finally broke apart, and stared at each other's eyes. We were both breathing heavily and unevenly. I carefully slipped my hands away from her middle, and she slid hers off of my back, but as we both pulled our hands back, she used her left hand to catch my right one.

She smiled sheepishly as she entwined our fingers. Still breathing heavily, we both turned back to the movie, holding each other's hand. She was stroking her thumb over my skin again, and I sighed happily.

After the movie, we left the theater hand in hand. We didn't say anything, but the silence surrounding us was comfortable, not awkward at all. We grabbed sandwiches at a little place near the theater and found a bench outside to sit on and eat.

"Thanks for the movie and the dinner, Em," Ali said as we sat on the bench, nibbling at the sandwiches.

"Anytime," I said with a small smile. I felt a little like I was floating since we made out in the theater, and I couldn't help but wonder if she was feeling the same way. "Are you still nervous for tomorrow?"

Ali shrugged. "A little. It's just… I know that you probably figured this already, but I really don't like it when people don't like me. I mean, I know I kind of set myself up for people hating me but…"

I chewed the inside of my lip for a second as I contemplated what to say. "Everyone does bad things, Ali."

"You don't," Alison argued, shaking her head. "I _wish_ I was as nice as you sometimes."

I sighed. "I'm not perfect, Alison."

Ali sighed too, looking down at her lap. "Nobody's perfect," Ali stated, "but you're more perfect than I am."

I tried to control the blush that appeared on my cheeks. "Yeah, right," I told her, sarcastically and yet softly. We were both nearly finished with our sandwiches already. "If anything, we're like the same amount of perfect."

Alison chuckled.

"Come on," I said, standing up and reaching my hand down for her. She took it without a second of hesitation and we started back toward my car, tossing our trash into a trashcan that we passed.

We didn't talk a whole lot on the drive back to the dorms. As we walked inside the building, Ali said, "Thanks again, Emily. I really had a good time."

"So did I," I agreed, smiling at the blonde, who easily returned my smile. We got into the elevator and didn't say anything as it went up to the third floor. When it stopped, Ali started to walk out, but she stopped in between the elevator and the hall, to keep the elevator doors from closing.

"I'll see you tomorrow," she said, and I nodded.

"I'll text you the address of where we're meeting," I told her.

"Okay." She smiled at me, and then she reached out for my hand, then pulling me closer to her for a quick goodbye kiss. "Bye, Em."

"Bye, Ali."

The elevator doors slid closed, and I backed up against the wall. I couldn't really figure Alison out, I realized. She was a bitch to a lot of people, but somehow, she managed to make so many people like her, because she didn't like to be disliked. She clearly didn't open up to a lot of people, but I felt like if I tried, I could get her to open up to me. And maybe I would eventually find out why she thought so little of herself.

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**I hope you liked it :D =)**

**Please let me know your thoughts in a quick review or PM! Also, please follow me on Twitter at BrittzandTana ! Tweet me that you read this and I'll follow you back!**

**I said I was gonna update RIMS tonight, but I have friends over, so I'll do that tomorrow. I barely had time to do this!**

**Goodnight lovelies! Stay strong =) Please review!**


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: The last chapter that I posted-the one without the long A/N- may have been the longest chapter I've ever written for a FF story. This one is almost as long, but shorter about 500 words. Anyway, both the last chapter and this one were sort of ehhhh to me, like I don't know exactly how good they turned out. I didn't get a TON of reviews about the last chapter, but it would be nice if you could at least drop one to let me know how you think it went, especially this one. It was really hard for me to write actually, and probably took me twice as long.**

**200th reviewer gets a shoutout! *squeals bc almost 200 reviews at only 11 chapters***

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own PLL!**

**PLEASE enjoy, favorite, follow and REVIEW!**

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I texted Hanna that I was back from my date as I walked into my dorm, and was surprised to see Aria sitting on her bed. "Oh hey, I didn't think you'd be back."

"Ezra has to leave late tonight, so," Aria said, shrugging. "He'll be back Monday, but it still feels like a long time."

"Tell me about it," I muttered, chuckling. "At least you get to snoop around his apartment."

Aria laughed and shook her head at me. "How was your date?"

"It was good," I answered, and I felt a blush rise to my cheeks as I remembered what happened during the movie. "We saw one of the black and white movies that was showing."

"Does Alison like those?" Aria asked me, sounding hopeful.

I shrugged. "Not really," I admitted, "but she doesn't not like them I guess."

Aria shrugged as well. "Well, glad that you had fun. So, tomorrow… Are we going to want alcohol?"

I raised my eyebrows a little bit. "Um. I don't know. Hanna's probably going to want some."

"I guess no matter what we bring, she'll probably bring a flask," Aria said, biting her lower lip as she thought. "I guess just some beer and wine. I mean… I don't know what Alison and Spencer like to drink."

"I don't know either. Ali was drinking beer at her party," I told Aria, shrugging. I cursed myself a little bit for saying "Ali", just because I knew that it made Hanna uncomfortable, and it probably made Aria feel a little uncomfortable too.

"Okay," Aria said, smiling at me.

_AAA_

"How was date number three with Emily?" Spencer asked as soon as I walked into the dorm.

"It was date number two, Spence," I reminded her, rolling my eyes. Spencer wasn't buying it, though. She was still counting when she ran into me and Emily on Saturday to be a date.

"Whatever. How was it?" Spencer wondered. I felt a smile grow onto my face, and she raised her eyebrows. "I don't even know why I asked. You always have a good time when you're with Emily."

I shrugged. "What can I say? But Spence, I am sort of nervous about tomorrow."

"Don't be nervous. I've got your back, and so does Emily," Spencer promised. "And you know, Emily and I both hated you before we met you."

I shot Spencer a glare, even though she did have a point. "Well… I'm still nervous."

"It'll be fine. Come on, let's watch a movie or something," Spencer insisted, opening her laptop. I scooted my twin bed closer to hers so that I could see the computer screen as she opened Netflix. "What do you want to watch?"

"I don't know," I answered, getting under my blanket and leaning against my pillow. "Something funny."

We ended up watching White Chicks, and I managed to keep myself from getting too nervous.

_EEE_

Saturday at noon, I was already starting to get nervous. I hadn't been as nervous when Ali told me that she was nervous, but now I was starting to freak out. Aria was out with Hanna—Aria had decided that maybe she should talk to Hanna so that she didn't do anything she shouldn't do at the get together later.

So I was at the dorm by myself, pacing back and forth. We weren't meeting anywhere until four, so I had some time, but I had a feeling that I was just going to get more and more nervous until then. I swallowed thickly and wrung my hands together. Glancing at myself in the mirror, I took a shaky breath. What if Hanna and Aria really didn't end up liking Ali?

I stopped pacing and stood directly in front of my mirror. I was already dressed in what I was going to wear later. It was just a light blue tee and some not to tight skinny jeans. I had to be honest—I was wearing blue because Ali liked it on me. Plus, the color blue was calming, and I hoped that it would keep Ali—and me—from being too nervous. I straightened out my tee and wondered if it was too casual looking.

I shook my head. This was a casual thing. Plus, Ali already knew that I wasn't the kind of person who dressed up really fancy all of the time, and my friends definitely already knew that too. I ran my fingers through my dark hair. I didn't have a reason to be this nervous.

To prevent pacing, I found myself laying on my bed, turning my phone over and over in my hands. I pulled out my laptop at some point, trying to find something to do to keep me from freaking out.

At two, Aria and Hanna both came into the dorm. "Hey," I greeted them, immediately closing my laptop and hoping that they wouldn't notice how worried I was.

"Hey, Em," they said at the same time. "We got the booze," Hanna announced, holding up the grocery bag in her hand.

"Okay," I said, and I realized that my nerves were definitely showing through my voice.

"You okay?" Aria asked me.

"I'm fine," I lied, wetting my lips nervously as I felt my phone buzz in my hand. I quickly looked down at the text. Ali was asking for the address before she forgot to. I texted her it, and then looked back up at my friends. Hanna was now sprawled over all of Aria's small bed, doing something on her phone, and Aria was leaning against the wall, looking at me. "What?" I asked.

"Are you nervous?" she asked me.

I chewed on my tongue for a moment, trying to think of a way to convince my best friend that I totally wasn't nervous, and then decided that it was impossible. She knew me too well. "A little."

Hanna glanced at me, but Aria spoke, "Emily, we're both going to try. We know it has to be hard for you to feel like you're in the middle."

"I don't feel like it, I am," I corrected, sighing and sitting up a little straighter. My phone buzzed again.

**From Ali- You nervous?**

**To Ali- A little. You?**

Hanna sat up on Aria's bed and looked at me pointedly. "Emily, I know that I haven't really been supportive of all of this, but I'm going to try, okay?"

"Okay, thank you," I said, feeling a little more relieved. "That really means a lot, guys."

They both smiled at me, and my phone buzzed again. "Is that Alison?" Aria wondered.

"Uh, yeah," I answered, glancing down at my phone.

**From Ali- Trying my best not to be because Spencer keeps looking at me weird for looking like a nervous wreck.**

"I'm going to go down to my floor and make myself completely presentable," Hanna decided, getting up. She started to grab the drinks that she and Aria had purchased, but Aria stopped her.

"We'll keep those here, Han," she said, and Hanna just gave her a weird look before leaving. "Hanna's actually really nervous."

I raised an eyebrow at Aria as I started to text Ali back. "Why?"

**To Ali- Have some coffee or something.**

"She's meeting _the_ Alison DiLaurentis," Aria said, rolling her eyes slightly as she said it, but I realized that she was rolling them at Hanna, not at Ali, "and she's expecting Alison to be… not as nice as you think she is."

I sighed and looked down at my phone as I got another text.

**From Ali- You really think caffeine is going to help?**

**To Ali- Good point.**

"Alison… she isn't going to be like that, right?" Aria asked me. "I mean… like… a bitch."

I took a breath, trying to calm myself down. "Aria, she's really nervous. I don't think she wants to mess this up."

"_She's_ nervous?" Aria asked, and I nodded in response.

"She wants you guys to like her," I stated, raising an eyebrow at Aria's surprise.

"She doesn't have enough people who like her?" Aria muttered, and I lowered my gaze. "Sorry, Emily. I shouldn't have said that. I just… don't really get it, I guess."

"It's okay," I said, looking back up at Aria. "I still don't even really get it. Ali is kind of a closed book. She hasn't really opened up to me a lot, but I think that she will. All I know is that she's a lot deeper than people think she is. She just… she keeps her insecurities locked away."

Aria just nodded, and my phone buzzed again.

**From Ali- Is it four yet? :/**

**To Ali- I wish. Sitting here isn't helping my nerves either.**

Aria suddenly got a phone call from Ezra, and she spent the next hour and a half talking to him. I spent it texting Ali and trolling the internet, trying to keep my mind off of what was going to happen later.

At three-thirty, Aria and I met Hanna on the first floor and then we drove out to Ezra's apartment. We put the alcohol in the fridge, and Hanna wanted to order pizza, but Aria convinced her to wait until Spencer and Ali were there, in case they wanted something other than cheese, which was we always got.

At four, there was a sort of hesitant knock on the door. Taking a nervous breath, I stood up from where I'd been sitting on the couch and walked to the door. I saw Hanna and Aria exchanged nervous looks, and I decided that all of us were probably nervous, except maybe Spencer. As far as I'd heard, Spencer didn't seem nervous about anything.

I opened the door and smiled as soon as I saw Ali. "Hey," I greeted, swallowing my nerves.

"Hey," she returned, and I stepped back to let her in. Spencer was right behind her.

"Hi, Emily," she greeted, smiling at me. I nodded in return, and then closed the door behind them.

Aria and Hanna were already up and ready for their introductions. "This is Aria," I said, and Aria smiled at Ali and shook her hand, "and that's Hanna."

Hanna didn't shake Ali's hand, but she did smile at Alison, which was good enough for me.

"And this is Spencer," I said unnecessarily.

"Spencer," Aria said in a stiff greeting.

"Aria," Spencer returned, and Ali and I exchanged glances as we tried not to laugh at the two of them.

"This is your boyfriend's place?" Alison asked Aria, who nodded.

"Yeah he's, uh, up in New York for the weekend. He got an invitation to some seminar up there," Aria answered, shrugging.

"Definitely nicer than a dorm," Ali commented.

"So, we were going to order pizza," Hanna piped up. "Any requests?"

"Uh, cheese is fine for me," Ali answered, and I saw that she looked tense and nervous.

"Same," Spencer said, shrugging. Hanna smiled approvingly and her phone appeared in her hand as she dialed the pizza place.

"Alison, what are you majoring in at Hollis?" Aria asked. Of course the first topic that would pop into her mind would be school. Though, it was a pretty easy topic.

"Financing," Ali answered, and Aria glanced over at me.

"Yeah we don't… have any classes together," I said.

"Well I knew that," Aria said, chuckling a little.

Alison and Aria continued to talk, and Spencer turned to me. "I don't think we've properly met each other either," Spencer stated, smiling at me. "I mean, I saw you at Ali's party, but I didn't really know who you were."

I smiled. "Well, I've heard all about you."

"Same," Spencer said, laughing. "I feel like I've met you a dozen times already."

"Well, I did see you when Ali and I were getting coffee," I reminded her.

"Right. I still think that should've counted as a date," Spencer told me, and I laughed. I was glad that Spencer was here, actually, because she seemed totally cool and, like I'd suspected, not nervous at all. "I'm still struggling with Aria being your best friend," she joked, "and I apologize in advance for when I get payback for her beating me twice."

I laughed. "Don't worry, I'm not taking sides."

"Okay, pizza should be here in like twenty minutes," Hanna announced. "In the meantime, anyone want something to drink?"

Ali glanced over at me, and I gave her a reassuring smile.

"We have beer and some wine and… that's is," Hanna said, her ton basically confirming to me that she had a flask hidden somewhere already.

"I'll take a beer," Ali said, and Hanna took out a couple bottles, passing one to Ali. "Thanks."

"You want anything, Spencer?" I asked her, and she shrugged. In the end, we all ended up with a bottle of beer. I was happy when Spencer and Hanna started talking a little bit. If she wasn't talking much to Alison, at least she wasn't just lurking somewhere away from all of us.

Eventually, we all ended up in a sort of circle just talking about random stuff. Hanna didn't talk much, but the fact that she wasn't glaring at Alison the whole time was enough to make me feel proud.

The pizza got to the apartment, and Hanna went to pay for it. "Wait," Ali said as she grabbed her purse and started to dig around it for her wallet, "I'll pay."

"I can afford a pizza," Hanna stated, and I bit my lip.

"No, I know," Ali said, and then she sighed. "Let me at least pay for half." She held some cash out to Hanna, who took it skeptically and then paid for the pizza.

Aria and I looked around Ezra's kitchen area for plates, but we didn't find any, so we decided to go with napkins. Each of us grabbed a napkin and a couple slices of pizza.

"We," Hanna started, stretching out the word, "should play a game."

"Please not a drinking game," I said, and Hanna rolled her eyes at me.

"No, not a drinking game," she agreed, like she knew that would lead nowhere good. "How about Truth Or Dare?"

Aria raised her eyebrows with interest and glanced at Spencer, who shrugged. I looked at Ali and she shrugged as well, saying, "Fine by me, I guess."

"Yes!" Hanna exclaimed excitedly, and then she set down her pizza on Ezra's couch and started to push his coffee table out of the middle of the room.

"Hanna! What are you doing?" Aria demanded.

"Hey, I'll put it back," Hanna insisted, retrieving her pizza and sitting on the floor across from the couch. Aria rolled her eyes and went to sit by her, and I sat by Aria. Ali sat by me, and Spencer sat in between her and Hanna, and across from Aria.

"Who wants to start?" Aria asked, glancing around our circle. I took a bite of my pizza, glancing around the circle as well.

"I will!" Hanna exclaimed, and all of us clearly braced ourselves. "Aria! Truth or dare?"

"Umm… truth?" Aria asked.

"Did you and Ezra do it on that couch?" Hanna asked, wiggling her eyebrows. Aria's face turned bright red, and we all laughed.

"Maybe," Aria answered, taking a bite of her pizza as her blush died down. "Do I have to go now?"

"Yes," Hanna stated.

"Okay… Alison," Aria said, and we all looked at Ali. "Truth or dare?"

"Truth?" Ali said cautiously, glancing at me.

Aria thought for a moment, and then she asked, "Are you… are you a lesbian, or…?"

Alison's eyebrows shot up for a moment. "Ah, no I'm not."

Aria just nodded, and I gave Ali an apologetic smile. She just looked around the circle to pick her victim. Probably to keep it safe, she picked Spencer. "Spencer, truth or dare?"

Spencer looked at Alison carefully, probably trying to read her expression. "Dare," she decided.

Ali smirked, before telling Spencer, "I dare you to kiss someone in this circle."

My eyebrows shot up at the same time as Spencer's did.

"_But_, it can't be me, and it can't be Emily," Ali insisted, and she grabbed my hand. The touch sent an electric shock through my body, and I tried not to show the affect it had on me.

"Really, Ali?" Spencer demanded.

"You picked dare," Ali said with a shrug, looking at Spencer challengingly.

Spencer rolled her eyes. "Sometimes I really hate you." Ali rolled her eyes at her best friend, and Spencer sighed, looking at my two terrified best friends. Spencer sighed. "Sorry, Aria, but I like don't know Hanna, so…"

Aria huffed, and she awkwardly leaned across the circle to Spencer and they shared the most awkward kiss, which lasted only like half a second. I was trying not to burst into laughter, and I looked at Ali with an eyebrow raised. She quirked one of her eyebrows up at me as she grinned. We both knew that she'd done it just because they were always so competitive with each other.

"There, happy?" Spencer demanded, glaring at Ali, who gave her an innocent smile. Spencer rolled her eyes, but a smile tugged at her lips. I liked how she and Ali were so close, and how you could just so obviously tell.

"My turn!" Hanna declared, even though it was supposed to be Spencer's turn. "Alison, truth or dare?"

Ali suddenly looked a little nervous, and she raised a piece of pizza to her mouth as she answered. "Um, truth."

"Have you had sex with Emily yet?" Hanna asked, one of her eyebrows raised.

Ali practically choked on her pizza, and my eyes doubled in size. "Hanna!" I hissed. Hanna just shrugged at me and looked back to Alison.

"Um… no," Ali answered after she'd swallowed her piece of pizza. We all sat there sort of awkwardly for a moment, and then Aria decided to talk.

"Okay! Maybe that's enough of this game!" she decided.

"What about never have I ever?" Spencer piped up quickly.

"I thought we weren't going to play drinking games," Hanna said, though I didn't thinks she was that upset about the suggestion.

"It's just beer," Spencer said, shrugging. We all glanced around the circle and then decided that it couldn't hurt. We didn't really have anything else to do anyway.

Since I hadn't really participated in the last game, I piped up for this game with, "I'll go first. Never have I ever been out of the country."

Aria and Spencer both took a drink, and we all looked at Ali to go next. She blinked. "Um. Never have I ever skipped a college class."

I looked at her. "Seriously?" I asked, and she shrugged.

"Drink up," she told me teasingly, quirking up her right eyebrow.

"What makes you think I've skipped classes?" I asked her. She smirked at me, and I huffed as I took a drink, and so did Aria and Hanna. I totally understood Spencer for not skipping any classes, though.

Spencer was next. "Never have I ever had a kiss in the rain."

"That's so sappy," Aria commented, but then she took a drink. I took one as well. Aria glanced at me. "Who did you kiss under the rain?"

"Who did you kiss under the rain?" I countered, and she gave me a suspicious look, but then let it slide.

I felt Ali's thumb slide over the skin on the back of my hand, and I realized that I had almost forgotten that she was holding my hand. I flashed her a smile, and she returned it. I could tell that both of us were a lot less nervous now.

It was Hanna's turn now. "Never have I ever had sex with a girl."

"Hanna, is all you ever think about sex?" I demanded, before taking a drink of my beer. She totally only did that because she knew I would be the only one to drink.

Hanna just smirked and we looked at Aria. We had a couple more rounds of that game, but as soon as one of us ran out of beer, we decided to stop. "Do you think _Ezra_ has got anything sweet in his fridge?" Hanna asked, getting up from our circle and going into the kitchen.

"Hanna," Aria groaned, jumping up and following her. Ali turned her head to look at me, and she smiled.

"Do you think they like me?" she whispered.

I smiled back at her and nodded. "I think so."

"Ugh, stop looking at each other like that or I'm going to get diabetes," Spencer said suddenly in a teasing voice. Alison immediately shot Spencer a death glare. I couldn't help but chuckle, though, and Ali tried to glare at me, too. The glare quickly disappeared and she just rolled her eyes at me and squeezed my hand.

"What kind of person doesn't have at least one tub of ice cream in their freezer?" Hanna grumbled as she came back to the circle empty handed, Aria in tow.

"Ezra?" I guessed, and Hanna glared at me. I just shrugged in response.

We all fell into conversation, and I was glad that at least Aria seemed completely comfortable with Spencer and Alison, and Hanna seemed to be getting there too. I actually felt really relieved, and as the conversation continued, I leaned into Ali.

She gave me a sweet smile. I almost wanted to kiss her, but I decided that it maybe wasn't the best idea.

When it started to get late, we picked up all of our garbage and tossed it. Then we pulled Ezra's table back into the middle of the living area and made sure we had all of our stuff.

"This was a lot of fun," Ali said to no one specific, and we all nodded our heads in agreement.

"We have to do it again sometime," Aria said, smiling at Ali and Spencer, and I let out a relieved breath. As we all left Ezra's apartment, Ali and I lagged a little behind everyone else as we headed down the stairs.

"So you really think they don't hate me anymore?" Alison asked me.

"Yes," I confirmed, smiling at her, taking her hand and entwining our fingers.

Ali smiled. "So you think next time we're walking through the middle of town, Hanna isn't going to come raging toward us like I murdered you or something?"

I couldn't help but laugh at that. "No, I don't think she'll do that again."

Alison let out a relieved breath. "So what are we going to do tomorrow? I mean, if you're still claiming me for tomorrow."

"Of course I am, unless you'd rather I don't," I said, and she laughed at me, shaking her head.

"So what are we going to do?" she asked me, looking at me curiously.

"I'll think of something," I told her, nudging her playfully. We reached the bottom floor of the building, and we had to disconnect our hands as we split up. "See you tomorrow," I told her.

"Yep, see you tomorrow," I agreed. "Bye, Spencer!"

"Bye, Emily," Spencer answered, smiling at me.

_AAA_

Spencer and I were back in the dorm building before Emily and her friends, and I guessed that they must've made a detour or something. "Did you have fun?" Spencer asked me.

"Yep," I answered, smiling. "Emily thinks that they like me."

"That's good," Spencer said, chuckling. "I'm still a little pissed that you made me kiss Aria."

"You could've kissed Hanna," I reminded her, laughing. "Anyway, it was totally hot," I teased.

She rolled her eyes and shook her head, but I saw a blush appear on her face. I decided not to tease her about it.

We were in our dorm, and I was grabbing some pajamas to change into and my stuff for the bathroom. Just as I was about to leave, though, there was a knock on our door. I set my stuff down and went to the door, opening it with a look of confusion.

Hanna was standing outside the dorm. "Oh, hi, Hanna," I greeted, a little worried about what she was doing here.

"Hi," Hanna said, and I could tell that the enthusiasm in her voice was fake. "Look, you seem a lot nicer than I thought you would be. Really. I totally see why Emily doesn't hate you anymore, and I don't think I hate you anymore either. But here's the thing. I still don't trust you at all, and if you do anything to hurt Emily, I will make you pay for it. I might not be Miss Pretty And Popular, but I know how to get things done."

I swallowed thickly. My mouth opened slowly, "I don't wanna hurt Emily, Hanna. I really like her."

Hanna just looked me up and down. "I already told you, I don't trust you. You're going to have to do a lot more than assure me before I'll trust you. If Emily is going to completely trust you like this, someone has to be here to watch out for her."

"I understand," I stated, chewing nervously on the inside of my cheek.

"Good. I'm glad that we have an understanding," Hanna stated, and then she started to turn away. Suddenly though, she froze and sighed. She turned back to me, and as she started to speak, I was surprised by how her voice had softened. "I really… don't mean to be a bitch, Alison. It's just… Emily really likes you, and I obviously don't really know you, but I just have to make sure that someone is keeping their head clear enough to see if you're doing something shady."

"I get it, Hanna," I insisted. "But I promise you, eventually you'll see that I'm completely genuine when it comes to Emily."

"I hope you're right," Hanna agreed, and then she finally walked off toward the elevators. I closed the door and leaned against the inside of it, taking a deep breath.

Spencer was looking at me with raised eyebrows. "Wow. She did not seem that scary when we were hanging out." I just sighed and grabbed my things for the bathroom.

"Be back in a few."

* * *

**I always feel so weird writing get-togethers like this... especially bc the games. I don't know. I feel like they always end up really bad. I don't know. Thoughts?**

**Yeah so please let me know your thoughts in a quick review c: Or, PM me :D Also, please follow me on Twitter at BrittzandTana ! Tweet me that you read this and I'll follow you back!**

**2 seconds of Sparia yay! Haha... I'm not sure what I'm going to do with them, but I thought the kiss thing is totally something that Ali would do, lol yeah. I've got lots of this story planned out, so I expect it all to be coming pretty smoothly. School is starting soon, though, so updates may start to become more irregular. I know, it sucks :( **

**I got my school schedule yesterday =) All but one of my classes I have at least one friend in, which is good. My history class, though... I can't find ANYONE with it! I'm beginning to think that maybe the schedule was a typo or something -.- I'll probably be stuck in that class with a ton of people I don't know :(**

**Anyway! Have a great night my loves! Please review! Please please! I really want to know how this chapter turned out! :) **


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: Hey everyone! You all are super duper amazing! I'm updating a little earlier than planned... And I have a FEW shoutouts to give!**

**First of all... 200th reviewer! It was... badadada... a Guest reviewer named Guest. Haha thank you all guest reviewers, btw. Some of you leave amazing reviews! If you post them while I'm sleeping, a lot of the time the next morning, I'll post answers to them on my Twitter :)**

**Second shout out Twitter user heyypieterse, aka Sabrina! Everybody thank her for you all getting early updates. XD XD **

**Third shout out to Twitter user PieterseGirl! (pretty sure that's you) Hi, I totally just met you, but you made my day when you recognized me on tinychat so yeah thanks for that ^.^**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own PLL!**

**PLEASE enjoy, favorite, follow and REVIEW!**

* * *

"So, did you like her?" I asked, finally asking Aria what I'd wanted to ask her.

Aria smiled at me as she sat down on her bed. "She was definitely not what I was expecting," Aria started, "in a good way of course. And it was so cute when she held your hand."

I felt myself blush a little bit, and I let out a relieved sigh. "Good. I don't think I would've been able to handle it if you hated her."

Aria smiled again. "I'm really sorry about before, Emily. It's just… you know, I really believed that she was always a bitch, and it was hard to imagine a different side of her, you know?"

"I get it," I assured her, nodding. "I'm just really glad that you saw that she isn't as bad as we all used to think."

Aria nodded, and then she pulled out her phone and started tapping away.

"Who are you texting?" I asked, and then I wiggled my eyebrows like Hanna would've done. "Is it Ezra?"

Aria rolled her eyes at me. "No, it's not. It's Spencer. I got her number before we left, when you and Alison were talking all secretly."

"We weren't talking secretly," I argued, shaking my head. "Anyway, you got her number?"

Aria looked up at the look I was giving her, and she rolled her eyes. "Emily, people can ask for people's numbers to just hang out."

"Yeah, I think that's what Ali said was the reason she gave me her number, and then two days later she asked me out, so…" I smirked at Aria as she huffed. I laughed loudly and shook my head, sitting down on my bed. "I'm just teasing you Aria. I know you aren't into girls like that."

Aria just shook her head at me and started texting again.

"But I totally ship it," I stated. Aria did her best to glare at me as she threw a pillow my direction. She wasn't very good at being mean to friends, because she was a total sweetheart. I laughed as the pillow hit me. "Sorry Ali made her kiss you."

"Whatever, it was just a game," Aria muttered, but her face flushed bright red and I tried not to bust out laughing as I carefully returned her pillow to her bed without chucking it at her like she had to me.

"Does this mean that you two aren't going to be competing anymore?" I asked.

Aria raised an eyebrow at me. "Spencer will never stop competing for the top spot. Therefore, I will never stop competing for the top spot."

I smiled and took out my phone.

**To Ali- I am so glad we did that! Aria's opinion has definitely changed!**

**From Ali- Good, I'm glad too! What about Hanna?**

I took a deep breath.

**To Hanna- So… how do you like Alison?**

**From Hanna- She's definitely nicer to us than I thought she'd be. I mean, I still don't trust her completely, but I approve so far.**

My lips spread out in a grin.

**To Hanna- Good, I'm so glad! Thank you so much for doing this for me, Han! (:**

**From Hanna- Don't worry about it, girlie!**

My grin turned into a regular smile, but I was still grinning on the inside as I texted Ali back.

**To Ali- She says that she approves. C:**

**From Ali- Really? That's a relief.**

**To Ali- I know… So… do you want to meet at the Brew tomorrow for coffee?**

**From Ali- Hmm… I don't know… I might have something better to do… ;)**

The winking face in Ali's text message totally almost killed me, because now I was imagining Alison winking at me, and that was almost enough for me to drop dead.

**To Ali- Hah ha, very funny. Noon?**

**From Ali- Noon is perfect! See you tomorrow =) xx**

"Are you okay?" Aria asked me, and I realized that I might've been totally like swooning at the text message because of the xx at the end.

"I'm fine," I said to Aria, waving my hand.

**To Ali- Yes you will. Goodnight! Xx**

I sighed contently and set my phone down in my lap, leaning back against my pillow. "You really like her, huh?" Aria asked me, telling me that she'd accurately guessed who I was texting.

I nodded. "A lot."

"Well… you better do everything you can to keep her then," Aria said, smiling at me. I returned the smile.

"I'm hungry. Want to order pizza?" I asked Aria, who laughed.

"Again?" she asked and I nodded. "Sure."

The next morning, I woke up feeling better than I had all week. My best friends were in support of my relationship, and I was going to see Ali today.

"Someone looks happy this morning," Aria commented when I got to the bathrooms—she'd gotten there before I'd woken up.

"Well, I am happy," I told her, shrugging and fighting off a wide smile.

"Good," she said, smiling at me. "Hanging out with Alison today?" I nodded. "What are you two doing?"

"Just going for coffee," I answered, shrugging. "You got any plans for today?"

"Spencer and I are going to study," Aria answered, before flashing me a glare that told me not to tease her for their kiss the previous day.

"For English?" I asked, and she nodded. "Why, so you can know what she's bad at and get better at it?"

Aria rolled her eyes. "Hey, you wanted me to like Alison and Spencer, so you should be happy that I want to hang out with Spencer."

I laughed and shook my head, starting on my makeup.

"Where did they go to school, by the way?" Aria wondered.

"Rosewood Day," I answered, shrugging.

"Oh, that explains it then," Aria stated, putting blush on her cheeks. I gave her a curious look.

"Explains what?"

"Well, both of them are totally loaded," Aria answered, shrugging.

I raised an eyebrow at her. "You sound like Hanna now." She laughed and I smiled. It was nice that the two of us could talk now without having a sort of tension between us about Alison.

"What time are you meeting Alison at the Brew?" Aria wondered.

"Noon," I answered, shrugging. "I've got a couple of hours."

"Do you want to grab breakfast at the Grille then?" Aria asked, looking at me hopefully. "Maybe we can ask Hanna to come, too."

"Sure," I agreed, smiling.

Half an hour later found me and my two best friends sitting around a table at the Grille having breakfast and talking about whatever the hell came to our minds. That's what I loved about my friends— we could talk about anything with each other, whether it was important or totally unimportant. I wondered if it would be that way with Ali eventually.

When it was almost noon, I excused myself so that I could walk over to the Brew. "See you later, Em," Aria said, smiling at me.

"Have fun with Alison," Hanna told me, winking. I felt myself blush as I turned away from them and left the restaurant. Yes, I liked this a lot more than my best friends hating Ali.

I walked into the Brew and saw Ali already paying for two coffees. "Hey," I said, frowning, "I was gonna pay."

Ali's head whipped around, like she hadn't expected me to be there yet. She immediately smiled at me, though. "Too late," she said, shrugging and quirking up an eyebrow.

I crossed my arms, and she just grinned, handing me my coffee. I took it with a huff, but I couldn't help but smile. "Thanks. Do you want to stay in here or should we walk?"

"Let's walk," Ali said, her face brightening. She slid her hand into mine, giving me a near heart attack, and we left the coffee place.

"Did you hear? Aria and Spencer are friends now," I told her, smirking a little bit.

"What?" Ali asked, looking at me.

"Yeah, they're hanging out today," I answered. "Aria keeps getting mad at me because I keep teasing her about them kissing."

Alison smirked, but then her eyes widened a little bit. "Is she mad at me?"

"No," I answered, chuckling and squeezing her hand. Suddenly, an echo of thunder went off loudly in the sky, causing Alison to jump. "It's just thunder," I told her teasingly, and she glared at me. It didn't last though, and her face softened almost instantly.

I adjusted the jacket I was wearing a little bit, because it was starting to feel a little chillier. It was still pretty cold out lately in Pennsylvania, since it was early February, but it hadn't really been stormy. "How was your morning?" Ali asked me, drawing my attention back to her.

"Good. I had breakfast with Aria and Han," I answered, smiling. "Yours?"

"Boring," Ali answered, rolling her eyes. "But my day is definitely a lot better now," she added, smiling sheepishly at me.

I felt a blush rise to my cheeks, and her smile widened.

"Hey, Big A!" a voice that both me and Alison recognized said. We both stopped in our tracks and found ourselves face to face with Mona Vanderwaal.

"Hi, Mona," Ali returned.

"Hey, Mona," I said as well, because I totally knew her from Rosewood High and she had just pretended like I wasn't even there.

"Oh, hi. Emily, right?" Mona asked, looking at me weird. I couldn't help but roll my eyes.

"What do you want, Mona?" Ali demanded, holding my hand tighter.

"Look, you won't return any of my calls, and I think that we really need to talk," Mona stated.

"Do we?" Alison demanded. It was weird seeing her bitch side come out, because I never saw it when I was around her. "Look, Mona—"

I suddenly and involuntarily squeezed her hand, because I didn't want her to be a bitch. I didn't really like Mona, but I liked Ali when she was sweet, not when she was a bitch. The blonde looked over at me, and she sighed. She understood.

"Mona, I really don't want to keep doing this with you, okay? I'm sorry if you being a bitch to me made people hate you, but that's not my problem," Ali stated, and I could tell that she was trying to keep her rage under control.

Mona looked between Ali and me with suspicious eyes, and then she glared at Alison. "Fine. Whatever. But eventually, when your popularity is hanging by a thread, you'll come crawling back to me, and I will give you nothing."

"Mona, the only reason that you have anything is me. Remember that," Ali commanded, and then she pulled me and we moved around Mona. I could tell that Alison would have said a lot worse to Mona if she could, because her expression was twisted like she was trying to hold herself together.

"She's definitely a lot different than she used to be," I commented, shaking my head. Ali looked over at me, and her twisted expression disappeared as she shrugged.

"I don't really want to talk about Mona," she told me, and I nodded.

"Okay, then we won't," I agreed, smiling at her. She immediately smiled back at me, and I loved seeing that. Suddenly, another loud boom came from the sky, and we both looked up to see dark storm clouds moving over the area. "Oh great," I muttered as we stopped walking. As I said it, heavy drops of rain started to fall around us.

"Do you want to—" Before Ali could finish her question, the rain started to pour down on us like crazy, and Ali squealed as we were both suddenly soaked.

"We should go inside somewhere!" I exclaimed through the sound of the rain. I looked up at Ali, who nodded frantically. We disconnected our hands, turned around toward the Brew and started speed walking through the rain.

We were probably halfway back to the Brew when suddenly Ali grabbed my hand and pulled me to a stop. I gave her a confused look for half a second, and then she pulled me toward her and our lips met fiercely.

I immediately felt myself melt as I kissed her. My hands were up in her wet hair and hers were tangling into mine. She pulled me closer to her and I felt her tongue slide gracefully against my lips, which I immediately parted. The rain was still falling down on us hard, but neither of seemed to realize it as we got lost in our kiss.

It wasn't until we heard a loud boom of thunder that we were brought back to reality. We pulled apart and our eyes locked immediately as we took in deep gulps of air. "We should probably get inside," Ali whispered, and I could barely hear her over the rain.

I nodded, and gave her one more quick kiss before we both turned back and hurried back into the Brew. As soon as we were out of the rain, Ali groaned.

"Damn it," she grumbled, wringing out her hair. I looked at, and my eyes widened as I realized that she was wearing a white t-shirt and it was now totally see through. My breath hitched, because _wow_. Ali noticed my look and looked down at herself. Her own eyes widened and she quickly crossed her arms over her chest. The white bra she'd been wearing hadn't hid much, and now I could feel that my face was bright red.

Her arms still crossed over her chest, she hurried over to the couches in the Brew, which were surprisingly empty considering the amount of people in the building. I followed her over there and realized that her teeth were chattering.

Not hesitating for a second, I pulled off my jacket and wrung it out. The inside wasn't wet, though, so it wouldn't be much of a problem. I draped it over Ali's shoulders and then sat next to her. She gave me a grateful smile and slid her arms through the sleeves and wrapped it completely around herself. "Thanks," she muttered, sounding embarrassed and cold.

"Don't worry about it," I insisted. Sure, my hair was all wet and I was cold, but the jacket had helped and my shirt wasn't soaked. Plus, that kiss had definitely warmed me up some.

"Maybe we should go back to the dorms or something?" Ali mumbled, and I knew that she couldn't be comfortable in that wet t-shirt.

"Yeah," I agreed, nodding. "My car is over by the Grille, though, and I need it to head to work later."

"We'll take my car," Ali decided. "I can drive you back here for your car later."

"You don't have to do that. I can get Aria to take me back or something," I insisted, but Ali shook her head.

"No, I don't mind," she insisted. "Come on, though, I don't want to be out anymore."

"Can we at least get another coffee first?" I asked, because somewhere between the rain and the Brew, we had both tossed our rain water infested coffees into the garbage. "And I'll pay this time."

Ali finally smiled again and she nodded. She waited on the couch while I ordered us both each a coffee, this time making sure that they put a lid on top. I brought Ali back the coffee and then we left the Brew, making a run for it to her car. We hurried to get in, and by the time that we were, we were laughing like crazy. Once we'd both calmed down, Ali gave me a shy smile and set her coffee into a cup holder so that she could drive us back.

* * *

**Aww aww aww c:**

**Likeee it? Love it? Hate it? Please let me know in a review or a PM! Also, please follow me on Twitter at BrittzandTana ! =D Tweet me that you read this and I'll follow you back =D**

**So my mom made cookies, and I like really want to go have one because yeah, cookies. Lol. I hope you liked this chapter =D**

**Have a great night my lovelies! Please review c:**


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: _ATTENTION EVERYBODY! READ THIS BEFORE GOING_ _ON_: As some of you already know, because I've told you or because you've asked me, Who You Really Are was removed from Fanfiction due the summary containing a word that was not G Rated. You may have noticed, and if you haven't I don't really know how you didn't, that I have just reposted this entire story as it was before. Unfortunately, while the story remains the same, all of my reviews are gone. You all know that I don't write FOR reviews, but you also probably know that I was really determined for this story to beat Let Me Love You in the number of reviews. I am actually heartbroken to have lost the reviews. I have them all saved on my email, but it's not the same. I know you all will continue to give me reviews on new chapters, because you're all so amazing like that. However, I would LOVE it if some of you could drop a couple of extra reviews. I know that may be asking a lot, and you don't have to do it if you feel I'm being selfish or anything. Also this may sound like bribery, but I'll give you a shoutout on my next chapter if you review on at least one of the chapters before this one. Anyway, I am really sorry for the inconvenience. It has been killing me waiting until my suspension from posting was over. But now it is, and without further ado :)**

**I got up at 3:40am to post all of these for you guys. Man, I'm tired. Lol...**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own PLL!**

**PLEASE enjoy, favorite, follow and REVIEW!**

**So yeah starting fresh... 0 reviews... let's go.**

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"Your dorm looks a lot like mine," I commented jokingly as I followed Ali into her dorm room.

"Can't imagine why," Ali joked back, and I felt a smile playing on my face. "Ugh, I'm all wet."

I tried not to think of how that could be taken in other ways besides the fact that we were soaked once again while trying to run from her car to the dorm building.

She slid off my jacket and set it on top of her dresser carefully, and I turned away from her to look at the rest of the dorm room that she shared with Spencer. I could tell which bed was hers, because the blanket was pink. Spencer's was a beige color. Simple.

I glanced back over at Ali, and my eyes widened when I saw her bare back covered only by a thin bra clasp in the middle. I quickly glanced away, thanking whatever was out there that I had been standing behind her. My skin felt hot now, because seeing that much of Ali's skin was torture. I couldn't help but glance back over to her as she slid on a new top. This one was blue, not white, and obviously it was much drier. "Do you want a shirt to change into?" Ali asked, turning her head to look at me. I snapped my eyes away from the part of her lower back that my gaze had clung to once the shirt had covered her back.

"I'm okay," I answered. Ali looked down at my top. It wasn't see through, like her white top had been after she got all wet, but it wasn't by any means dry.

Ali faced her dresser again, and then she suddenly tossed a dark pink sweater at me. I gave her a grateful smile as I turned away from her to slip off my top. I felt my heart racing, because I could feel Ali's eyes on me. I squeezed my eyes closed as I pulled my top over my head. If I normally felt self conscious around Alison, I was ten times more now.

I quickly slipped on the sweater and then felt suddenly less exposed, letting out a quiet, relieved breath. I turned back toward Ali, and she wasn't looking at me. However, she was now wearing my jacket again, but it wasn't like I was going to ask for it back.

"I hate rain," she muttered as she sat down on the pink bed. I took slow steps over to her dresser, leaning on it and facing Ali.

I shrugged, and admitted, "I actually kind of like it," I admitted. "It's calming. I don't know."

Ali looked me up and down for a moment, and then she smiled at me. "I like that you're so much different than me. It's refreshing."

"I know what you mean," I said, and I did, sort of. It was exhilarating to be around Alison, because she was so much different than the people I was used to being around. I loved it. Ali smiled at me again, and then she looked down at her hands, and a nervous look appeared on her face. Concerned, I asked, "Are you okay?"

She looked back up at me, and didn't try to force a happy expression. Instead, she asked me, "Did you always know you were into girls?"

I bit the inside of my lip. "No, but I always knew that there was something different about me."

"Like, you didn't have boyfriends?" Ali asked, expecting to be correct, but I shook my head. She furrowed her eyebrows a little bit.

"I wanted to fit in," I said, shrugging. "The easiest thing to do was to be like all of the other girls. I only ever dated a couple of guys, though. The first time I was with a girl was the first time that being with anyone ever felt right. Why are you asking?"

Alison shrugged. "I was just wondering. I like guys and girls, I guess, but I just don't really understand why I've never actually pictured myself being with a girl… like… until you."

I felt heat rising to my face, but I ignored it. "You never pictured it because it's socially acceptable for you to be with a guy, not a girl. It's got to be even harder for you than it was for me too. I mean, it took me forever to picture myself having a life with a woman. But you like guys too, which has got to make it harder to picture that."

Ali nodded and met my eyes. "I guess that makes sense." She shook her head. "Sorry."

"You didn't do anything wrong," I said, furrowing my eyebrows a little bit. A smile appeared on Alison's face, and then I felt one appearing on mine as well.

"Thanks," she said. "It feels good to be inside and not freezing anymore." I didn't say anything, but I nodded in agreement. She took out her phone, and I just watched her for a moment. "Do you have an Instagram?"

I raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, it's Emily_Fields_Rosewood21." Ali was tapping away on her phone, and then mine vibrated in my pocket. I took it out and saw that Ali had followed me on Instagram.

I opened up the app and followed her back, and then saw that she was now liking every single one of my pictures. I laughed. "Ali, what are you doing?"

"Ooh, you have some cute pictures," Ali commented. "This one of you and Aria and Hanna is hilarious."

I went over to where she was on her bed, and she scooted over purposely, as if telling me to sit down next to her. I did so, and she showed me the picture she was talking about. We were all making stupid faces. I watched her scroll through more of my pictures. I didn't have a ton, so pretty soon, she was looking at high school pictures.

I held my breath as I remembered a picture that she was nearing, and then she got there. "Oh. Who's that?" It was a picture of me and my first girlfriend, kissing playfully for the camera. It had been her idea to take the picture.

"Maya," I answered. "She and I dated for a year in high school, but then she moved out of Pennsylvania."

"Oh, that sucks," Ali commented, looking at me. I shrugged.

"Yeah, well. I got over her," I stated, smiling at Ali. Our faces were really close, and I couldn't help but notice. Ali and I searched each other's faces for a moment, and then she glanced back down at the picture.

"We should take one," Ali stated, sitting up a little straighter. She opened the Instagram camera up on her phone and turned on reverse camera. She held it up and out in front of us, and we both naturally leaned closer to each other for the picture, smiling. As soon as the picture was taken, Ali immediately went to write the caption.

"You don't use filters?" I asked curiously.

"Em, you definitely don't need one," Alison stated, winking at me. She looked back down at her phone as my eyes widened and my entire face got hot. Ali _winked_ at me. I was just about dead.

Suddenly, my phone vibrated. I took it out and saw that Ali had tagged me in our picture. The caption said "With this beautiful girl!" and at the end was a winking emoji and one of the winking kissing emojis. I swallowed thickly. "We're cute," I commented, smiling to myself.

"Duh," Ali joked, nudging me a little bit. I looked at her and she was smiling widely, and gently biting her bottom lip. I suddenly leaned forward and snatched her lips with mine. She wasted no time, instantly reciprocating the kiss. My free hand rose up and placed itself on Ali's cheek, before moving into her hair instead.

I felt one of Ali's hands place itself on my upper leg, and she squeezed it slightly. "Mm," I hummed against her lip, and then she parted her lips, but before she could slip her tongue through to mine, I slipped mine to meet hers. We fought for a moment, but I won, and our tongues danced together in her mouth.

I turned a little bit as I pushed Ali to lay on her back. Ali's hand dragged up my jeans and slipped under the bottom of the sweater I was wearing as I found myself on top of her. Her fingers against my bare skin made me shiver and yet feel hot at the same time.

My phone had long since left my grasp as I kissed her harder, bringing my other hand to her stomach. I started to slip it under her shirt, and then we both heard the handle of the door start to turn.

I immediately pulled up and off of her, breathing heavily. Ali opened her eyes as she breathed heavily as well. She looked totally aroused, and I felt so bad that we'd been interrupted. She sat up, licking over her already swollen lips and running a hand through her hair as the door opened up.

"I hate all of this stupid rain," Spencer grumbled, fumbling with the books she had in her hands. "At least it's finally starting to clear up."

She looked up.

"Oh. Hi, Emily," Spencer greeted, smiling at me.

"Hey," I returned. "I thought you and Aria were studying."

"We were, but Ezra got back early apparently, so she went running off with him," Spencer answered. "What have you two been up to?"

Ali and I exchanged a split second look, and then she said, "Taking selifes. We just posted a super cute one on Instagram."

Spencer rolled her eyes playfully at us as she set her books down on the night stand by her bed. "Weren't you guys out, though?"

"We wanted to escape the rain," I told her.

"So, I'm interrupting your time together, aren't I?" Spencer asked, looking between us.

"It's fine," I said, "I have to go to work soon anyway."

"Yeah, and I have to take her back to the Grille to get her car," Ali agreed. "Is it finally clearing up out there?"

"Yeah, but not before I got completely soaked," Spencer muttered, gesturing to her soaked black shirt.

"At least you weren't wearing white," Alison muttered, sounding embarrassed. I smirked involuntarily and Ali tried to glare at me, but it turned into just a playful eye roll. "Anyway, we should probably go."

We really could've left a little later, but I understood that Ali didn't want us to be stuck with Spencer. "Alright. I'll see you later?"

"Yeah," Ali answered, pulling me up from her bed as she stood. We both grabbed our purses and then we quickly left her dorm.

"What do you have to do for the rest of the day?" I asked Ali as we headed to the elevators.

"Nothing," she answered, shrugging.

"Don't you have a job?" I asked her, raising an eyebrow. Alison shrugged.

"No, not right now. But it's not because I'm not looking for one. I am looking for one, but I want it to be a job that I can stick with for the rest of college. I lost my last job before Christmas, but I've saved up a lot from where I used to work," Ali answered. "Plus, my parents are helping me pay for school and stuff."

"What are you saving up for?" I wondered.

"An apartment. The sooner I can get out of that tiny dorm where I share a bathroom with like ten other girls, the better," Ali stated, shaking her head.

"I'm with you on that one," I agreed. Unfortunately, I hadn't saved enough money to get myself an apartment this summer, which meant that I was probably going to have to get a dorm for my next year of college, too. If Aria stayed with Ezra, they'd probably move in together, and so it would probably end up being me and Hanna in a dorm together.

Ali's phone beeped, and she opened up the text message as we stepped into the elevator.

"Is that Mona?' I asked, remembering what happened earlier.

"No," Ali answered, shaking her head. "It's my friend CeCe."

I furrowed my eyebrows. "Does she go to Hollis? I don't think I've heard of anyone named CeCe."

"No, she lives in Georgia," Ali answered as we walked out of the elevator and started out of the building. "We were best friends when we were little, and when we went into high school, our parents got us the other's number and we got really close. She probably knows me better than anyone, except for maybe Spencer."

"Do I ever get to meet her?" I wondered.

"Definitely, if she ever comes up here," Alison promised, chuckling. "She's always trying to get me to fly out to Georgia, but I don't have the money for that."

"I get it," I answered, nodding.

"You have to work until like seven?" Ali asked, and I nodded in confirmation.

"Sunday shifts are always so boring," I muttered, rolling my eyes.

"If it makes it less boring, maybe I can stick around and hang out with you," Alison suggested, smiling sweetly at me as we got into her car.

I tried not to blush. "I have no opposition."

"Good! Because it's either hang with you or stay at the dorm with Spence," Ali said, giving me a pointed look.

"Don't you have a ton of other people you could hang out with?" I asked her.

"Sure," Ali answered, shrugging, "but I'm not going to have a good time with any of them. Anyway, our time got ruined by rain and Spencer, and I want as much of it as I can get."

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**That Instagram selfie *heart eyes at my Emison***

**Likee? Lovee? Hatee? PUHLEASE let me know in a review! Also, please follow me on Twitter at BrittzandTana! Tweet me that you read this and I'll follow you back!**

**I spent like an hour crying yesterday because this story got taken down, I'm not gonna lie. I was fine today (yesterday), and I actually wrote like 4 new chapters of this story. I'm usually 3 chapters ahead, but right now I'm 7ish... lol... I'm in the middle of Chapter 21... yes that means you will get daily updates for the next few days for sure, no it doesn't mean I'm going to update three in a row ;)**

**Goodnight my loves... So sorry that this story was down for a couple of days. I hope you'll drop me a few reviews :)**


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: Another chapter for you all! :) Thank you all so much for the reviews! Unfortunately, Fanfiction is having some sort of issue... I guess a lot of stories that were posted within like the last 24 hours or something like that have been having review glitches (reviews are showing up as non existent and no one can reply to them, even though the email was sent out and the actual story info says that there are reviews there), which is why I haven't responded to any of the reviews. I PMd some of you back, but not everyone. I really hope that this doesn't affect my reviews, and that it'll get fixed and all of the reviews will show up. If I lose these two, I'm going to be so done. Whatever, at least I get to have the reviews and I know that you're all here for the story and I'm here to give you the story, not to get review :) But seriously, thank you all for them. I have some shoutouts to give I think ;)**

**Shoutouts to these lovelies! User LaughEasily, User Pinkfunster98, User BBGun007, User No1Crush, User Bookworm9598, User xXLandslidesXx ;D, Guest jmc12, User Alisongaylaurentis, User Kali Ravenheart, User SunnMdu, and User xxsamanthajxx! Thank you all for dropping me some reviews on my old chapters! 63 isn't 230, but just that you would do that for me is super amazing c: Thank you all so much, I love you! =D**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own PLL!**

**PLEASE enjoy, favorite, follow and REVIEW!**

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"Do you buy a lot of clothes from this place?" Ali asked me. She was distractingly sitting on the side of the checkout counter, looking around the store.

"Some," I answered, shrugging. "Why?"

"Just wondering," Ali answered, smiling at me. "I want to know a lot of things about you."

"Like what?" I asked, quirking up an eyebrow.

"Everything," she answered, winking at me. There it was, the second time that day. I couldn't handle the winking. It was totally hot and sexy and it drove me crazy, and I was pretty sure that Ali had noticed that by now.

_AAA_

I watched a blush appear on Emily's face after I winked at her. After I saw what it did to her earlier, I was tempted to just wink at her over and over. Sure, that was maybe a little mean, but I loved seeing how I could make her react.

I'd been in this store with Emily for almost her entire shift now. It wasn't the most entertaining place to hang out at, but at least neither of us could be bored as long as we were talking. Plus, maybe thirty people came in the entire time, which didn't take up much of our time.

"You'll find that I'm not very interesting," Emily told me, shrugging. I rolled my eyes.

"Liar," I accused playfully. "I think you're really interesting."

"Really?" Emily asked, looking at me with a look of disbelief. I nodded surely, and took a strangely shaky breath.

"I've never wanted to get to know anymore more than I do you," I admitted, smiling a shy smile at the brunette, who blushed. I felt myself blushing as well. I cleared my throat and looked away. "Your shift ends right about now, right?"

"Yep… right now," Emily confirmed, smiling at me as she grabbed her purse and phone. There was someone in the back again, who was going to lock up, so we just left. "Thanks for hanging out with me, Ali. I would've been so bored."

"Me too, don't worry about it," I promised, chuckling a little bit. I loved it when Emily called me Ali; it made me feel warm inside. I wasn't exactly sure why, but it might've had something to do with the fact that the only people who called me Ali were Spencer, CeCe and Emily.

"I guess we both have to take our own car to get back," Emily commented. Earlier, I'd brought Emily to the Grille to get her car, and we'd driven back here separately. I frowned a little.

"Yep," I confirmed. "I actually have to stop at the grocery store on the way back too."

"Well…" Emily trailed off and glanced around the empty street. I furrowed my eyebrows a little bit, but then her lips were on mine. At first our kiss was just soft and sweet, but then I felt her hands on either side of my midsection as she pushed me backwards.

My back gently hit the brick wall of the store behind me. Emily forced her tongue through my lips and into my mouth, and I moaned involuntarily. After earlier, I was definitely ready to make out with Emily.

My hands went around Emily's waist as she kissed me. Suddenly, her lips disconnected with mine, and we both breathed heavily as we searched each other's eyes. "That was one hell of a goodbye kiss," I breathed out. She smiled shyly at me.

"See you later," Emily whispered, and I nodded in agreement. Then she was walking away from me, toward her car. I sighed, leaning against the wall for support. My knees felt weak, and my legs felt like jell-o.

I forced myself to walk to my car, though, because Emily would be worried if she saw me just standing there.

After my stop at the grocery store, I found myself back at my dorm, where Spencer was, of course, on her laptop. "Hey. Were you at work with Emily or something?"

"Yep. I'd rather be there with her than here with you," I teased, sitting down on my bed.

Spencer looked at me and raised her eyebrows suspiciously. "I have never seen that jacket before."

I hugged Emily's jacket tighter around me. It smelled like her, and it was soft. Not that I was going to tell Spencer that.

"Is it Emily's?" she asked me knowingly. I glared instinctively at her.

"Yes. She gave it to me to wear earlier when my white shirt soaked through and she could practically see my boobs," I snapped, hugging the jacket around me.

Spencer snorted. "So, why do you still have it even though you came back and changed?"

"I forgot," I lied, but Spencer saw right through me.

"Don't worry," she teased, "I won't tell anyone how sweet and mushy you are."

"I'm not _mushy_," I growled. I considered taking off Emily's jacket just to show Spencer, but I decided against it. It really did smell like her, even though it wasn't a smell that I could really describe, and I wasn't going to give that up just so that Spencer would stop messing with me.

Spencer just laughed at me. "Emily is totally making you a softie."

"She is not!"

_EEE_

Ali and I tried to organize times that we could hang out during the week, since we'd both established that not hanging out for five days straight wasn't at all fun. However, our first plan, which was to grab dinner on Monday, totally got canceled whenever I got called into work for an extra shift.

We tried to do something on Wednesday during a sliver of time we managed to find, but then Ali told me that she'd finally found a decent job that she was going to go into an interview for at that same time. Thursday was also a bust, and once again, we didn't get to hang out until Friday. Luckily, though, we didn't set a late time like five in the evening to go out. We decided to meet up early and just do whatever for the rest of the day.

My phone rang at ten in the morning, and at first I thought it must be Hanna, because she had a thing about calling at very exact times, and the previous week she'd called at ten, but it was Ali. "Hey," I greeted, smiling as I picked it up. I was currently in the bathroom doing a light amount of makeup.

"Hey!" she returned. "Do you want to go to breakfast?"

"If you mean with you, then _yes_," I answered, smiling to myself.

"Dork," Ali said, and I could picture her grinning as she rolled her eyes. "I'll drive. Just come down to my dorm when you're ready to go."

"I will," I answered. The line ended and I quickly finished up my makeup and the fixed up my hair a little bit. I made some different faces at myself in the mirror, and then I shook my head at myself and grabbed all my stuff and headed back toward my dorm.

"Let me guess, you're going out with Alison today?" Aria asked as soon as I walked back into the room.

"You're correct," I answered, smiling.

"Well just so you know, Hanna just texted me saying that she's reinstating Friday movie nights," Aria told me, looking at me pointedly. In high school, we used to get together every Friday at one of our houses to have random movie marathons.

I tried not to roll my eyes. "Okay. Starting tonight, I guess?"

"Yep. Her roommate apparently goes out every Friday starting tonight as well, and since she has a TV, Hanna said we can have it in their dorm," Aria announced.

"What time?" I asked, putting my bathroom stuff away and grabbing my purse.

"Seven," Aria answered, looking at her phone. "You better be there, or she's going to throw a conniption fit."

"I'll be there," I promised. "See you later!"

"Tell Alison I said hi!" Aria called as I started out the door. I flashed her a smile and then I was gone. I hurried to the elevators and started down. The elevator stopped at Hanna's floor, and Hanna got in.

"Oh, hey Em! Did Aria tell you about our movie night?" Hanna asked.

"Yep," I answered, smiling, "and I'll be there."

"Good!" The elevator stopped at floor three and I started off. "Where are you going?"

"I'm meeting Ali at her dorm and then we're going out," I answered.

"Okay, have fun," she said, smiling at me. I returned the smile as the elevator doors slid to a close, and then I headed down the hall to where I remembered Ali's dorm was. There weren't a lot of dorms on each floor, so it wasn't like I would forget which of the few doors were hers.

I knocked, and Spencer answered. "Hey, Emily! Come on in. Ali just ran to the bathroom."

"Hey, Spencer," I said as I nodded and walked into the dorm.

"What do you and Ali have planned for today?" Spencer asked me, wiggling her eyebrows playfully.

I laughed. "I don't know. We're starting with breakfast."

"Ali has been missing you all week," Spencer told me. "Every time she was out of class and you were in it, she was all grumpy. I couldn't even joke about anything without her glaring at me like she wanted to murder me."

I let out a light laugh, but I totally understood how Ali had been feeling. It felt so weird when we didn't get to hang out.

"Also, she's been wearing your jacket every time she's at the dorm," Spencer added, pointing to Ali's neatly made bed. My jacket was folded neatly on top of it. My eyes widened a little bit. I hadn't asked for that jacket back, because I didn't mind Ali having it. I was a little surprised that she wore it, though. The door suddenly opened, and Ali's eyes lit up when she saw me. "Hey, Em!"

"Hey," I replied.

"You two weren't talking about me, were you?" Ali growled at Spencer, who just smirked at her. Ali rolled her eyes and grabbed her purse. "Come on, Em."

"Bye, Spence," I said to Spencer, who laughed as Ali practically dragged me out of the dorm.

"What'd she say about me?" Ali asked, looking at me suspiciously.

"Nothing," I answered, smiling teasingly at her. She narrowed her eyes at me and I laughed. "She said that you really like my jacket."

Ali's face turned a bright red and she looked away from me. I just chuckled at her, and then I took her hand as we approached the elevator. Ali smiled at me shyly. "You can't have your jacket back," she told me.

I laughed. "Okay. Hey, have you gotten a call about that job interview you had?"

The job was apparently as some kind of secretary for a fashion company that was nestled on the edge of Rosewood, and Ali had told me when she got the interview that she actually really wanted it. "Not yet," Ali answered, frowning. "What if they don't hire me?"

"If they don't, then they're missing out," I answered, nudging her playfully. Ali rolled her eyes at me, but I didn't miss the small smile on her face.

We were already downstairs and walking out of the building. "Should we go to the Brew for breakfast?"

"Sounds good to me," I answered, nodding. "How was your week?"

"Boring as hell," Ali answered as we approached her car. "I totally missed you all week, even though we were texting and stuff."

"Me, too," I answered, sighing a little bit. We broke our handholding to get into the car. "What do you want to do after breakfast?" Ali shrugged.

"What do _you_ want to do?" Ali countered.

"I'll have fun doing anything with you," I told her, smiling. "You have me until seven. Hanna is reinstating these Friday movie nights that we used to have in high school."

"Okay," Ali said, nodding.

"Unless… you want to come. To our movie night?" I asked in a small voice as Ali started driving us to the Brew.

Ali flashed me a sideways glance. "Sure, if it's cool with Hanna and Aria that I come."

"I'll just text Hanna and make sure," I said, pulling out my phone.

**To Hanna- Can Alison come to our movie night?**

**From Hanna- Sure.**

"She said you can come," I told Ali, who smiled widely.

"Good. I'm still worried that Hanna might not really be all okay with me," Ali admitted.

"Well, she'll come around," I promised.

"Yep, once she realizes that I'm not the evil, backstabbing bitch that she thinks I am," Ali agreed, and I bit the inside of my lip. We talked about random stuff during the rest of the ride to the Brew, and then we went in to have our breakfast. The whole time we ate, we tried to figure out how to spend the rest of our day hanging out together. It wasn't like there were a billion different things to do in Rosewood. But I suddenly had an idea, and we left the Brew.

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**Likeeeeeeee? :D I hope you'll drop me a review! Or a PM :) Also, please follow me on Twitter at BrittzandTana :D Tweet me that you read this and I'll follow you back!**

**Want to hear something random about me?! :) Well, like it or not, you are! :D I am like super backwards. Most people my age sleep a ton and wake up tired, or sleep a little and wake up tired, and you know, teenagers are always tired (haha maybe not but you know what I mean)... anyway! I am so weird, I could sleep forever and wake up totally tired, but if I sleep LESS, I wake up super hyper. Like, it's crazy. At first, I'll be groggy, but then I get crazy. Like I would go into first period bouncing up and down. But like... I was really just tired, so I would fall asleep whenever I wasn't working at school and stuff... but as long as I'm doing something, I'll be super hyper.**

**Also... NEVER GIVE ME CAFFEINE. Like... ever... One time, I slept for like 2 hours and woke up at 3am bc I had an flight at like 5am. I was super tired, but ya know, I was going to start getting hyper. But my mom was like "hey, maybe you should have some coffee to wake you up". I HATE coffee, but I had only slept for 2 hours so like I was like okay sure. I had literally like a tablespoon of coffee, mixed with chocolate milk. By the time we got to the airport at like 4am... I was bouncing up and down nonstop and talking super fast. That's natural hyperness mixed with caffeine. I don't think I've had a caffeinated drink since then tbh... It makes me cray.**

**Okay I'm done talking!**

**Have a great night my lovelies! Please review c:**


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N: Sweet chapter for you all... But soon comes drama... ;) Thank you all so much for reviewing! I can't believe how amazing you all are! I'm so appreciative of all of you, seriously. *hearts* Also, a couple shoutouts... one to FannamedSam, for all of your reviews, and also Drea82581 =) I think that's everyone, if I missed someone, please let me know! ;)**

**Speaking of reviews, the FF review problem was fixed at 8am my time this morning so yay c: when I saw that, I literally yelled "YES!" and then I tweeted "YES YES YES HAPPY MONDAY EVERYONE FF IS FIXED!" and then I tweeted "IT'S A GREAT DAY TO BE ALIVE"! Haha then I laughed at myself for like half an hour.**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own PLL!**

**PLEASE enjoy, favorite, follow and REVIEW!**

**PS... sorry if the idea Emily came up with is totally lame. I literally had no idea what it was going to be when I wrote that last chapter, and I had to think up something.**

* * *

"Where are we?" Ali asked me as I stopped the car. We'd taken Ali's, but I had insisted that I drive, even though she'd been against the idea at first.

"The middle of nowhere," I told Ali teasingly. "But don't worry, I didn't kill you last time, and I won't kill you this time."

"That's reassuring," Ali muttered, but she got out of the car at the same time I did and then came and grabbed my hand. I squeezed it and smiled sweetly at her. "So, what are we doing out here?"

We were standing on the edge of some woods. "I'm going to show you something," I stated firmly, pulling her along a little bit as I started into the woods.

"Is this another random cliff that overlooks Rosewood?" Ali asked, raising an eyebrow at me.

"No," I answered, chuckling. "It's really nothing special actually."

We walked quietly for a minute, and then Ali said in a small voice. "You know, next Sunday is Valentine's day."

"Is it?" I asked her, fighting off the smile that was starting to appear on my face as well.

"Do you want to be my Valentine's Date?" Ali asked me, giving me a hopeful smile.

"I might have to think about that," I teased her, and she elbowed me, narrowing her eyes. "Of course, Ali."

"Nope, the offer has passed," Ali teased, sticking her tongue out at me. "I'll find someone else."

"Like hell you will," I answered, "have you forgotten that I've got you all alone in the middle of the woods?"

"So now you are going to kill me?" Alison asked, raising her eyebrows playfully.

"Only if I don't get to be your Valentine's date," I answered, squeezing her hand in mine.

Ali smirked. "Okay, fine. You win."

"Yes, I do," I agreed, chuckling. "We're almost there."

"Where is there, exactly?" Alison asked, tilting her head as she looked ahead of us at the trees. I didn't answer her, and a few seconds later, we broke through the trees into a clearing area. In front of us was a massive tree, about two times the size of the other trees, with a tree house nestled in it gently. It was just like how I remembered it, only covered with more leaves and things. "It's a tree house."

"Yeah," I answered. "I found it when I was little, and I used to come here all the time to be alone."

"Why are you showing it to me?" Alison asked, and I felt her eyes on me. I just squeezed her hand.

"You said you wanted to know everything about me," I reminded her, winking. She bit her lip shyly.

"Are we going to go up into it?" Ali wondered, looking at the tree house.

I shrugged. "I don't care either way," I answered, expecting Ali to say that she didn't want to go up. However, she surprised me by starting toward the ladder. Well, it was sort of a ladder, just wooden steps nailed into the trunk up to the tree house. "Really, you want to go up?"

"Sure," Ali answered. A few seconds later she was carefully climbing into the tree house. She looked a little weird doing it in skinny jeans and a blouse, but I thought it was totally cute. I climbed up after her and we found ourselves sitting across from each other in the old tree house. "You used to just sit here alone?"

"Yeah," I answered, nodding. "Mostly before I came out of the closet. It was like my thinking spot. Plus, I could walk here from my house."

"It is kind of peaceful," Ali agreed, looking around the little house. She suddenly shuddered. "I bet there are bugs everywhere, though."

I laughed at her a little bit, smiling. How did I find this amazing girl?

"So, since you're already my Valentine's date…" She trailed off, lowering her gaze as though she were embarrassed about something.

"What, Ali?" I wondered, finding myself holding my breath slightly.

"Emily… do you like… do you want to be my girlfriend?" the blonde asked slowly, sounding extremely nervous—maybe even more nervous than I had ever seen her.

I reached out and grabbed her hands. "Ali, why are you so nervous?" I asked her, my voice coming out oddly calm. Ali just nervously wet her lips. "Of course I want to be your girlfriend."

I might've seemed entirely calm, but my heart was beating a billion beats per second, and I was internally jumping for joy. Sure, the idea to ask Alison to be my girlfriend had crossing my mind, but I hadn't known if either of us were ready for that yet. Ali let out a relieved sigh, as if she thought that there was any chance that I would say no. "You make me nervous, Em," Ali reminded me, looking down at our joined hands.

"I still don't get how that's possible," I admitted.

Ali looked up at me. "I'm still always nervous that I'm going to do or say something wrong around you. I'm scared that I'll do something stupid and I'll lose you. We haven't known each other all that long but… I _really_ don't know what I'll do if I lose you."

"Well… you won't," I said, smiling at the blonde. Ali bit her lip bashfully and repositioned herself so that she was sitting next to me, curling into my side. I wrapped my arms around her and sighed contently.

We sat like that for a while, not talking. It was peaceful, and it felt actually really nice to be in a place that meant so much to me with someone who meant so much to me.

After maybe ten minutes of us just sitting together, Ali suddenly squealed. "Okay, I saw a bug, I can't be up here anymore!" she declared, pulling away from me. I stifled my laugh at her as she practically jumped out of the tree house and followed her down the ladder. She brushed herself off once she was on the ground, and as soon as I was standing next to her, she grabbed both of my hands and pulled me in for a kiss.

Every time Ali kissed me, I was surprised at how soft her lips were, especially since it had been like five days since we had kissed. Our lips moved passionately over one another's, and her hands pulled out of mine and instead found their place on the back of my neck.

My tongue poked out of my lips and slid against Ali's bottom lip. She let out a quiet moan as I gently forced it into her mouth. I pulled her impossibly closer to me, feeling myself get completely lost in our kiss. I loved that—how I could get completely lost when I was with Alison.

I was the one to pull away, and we both smiled shyly at each other. "What are we going to do now?" I asked her playfully.

"We're so boring," Ali joked, "we never have anything fun to do."

Swallowing my nerves, I told her in a low voice, "I can think of some fun things we can do."

Ali's eyebrows rose only a fraction of an inch. "Oh yeah?" she asked me, dragging her hands down so that they were resting on my shoulders.

"Mm," I confirmed, "but not here. C'mon."

I pulled away from her, but immediately caught her hand in mine. We started back toward her car, unspeaking. I breathed in the fresh air. Alison was my girlfriend. Just thinking that about her in my head felt good. And _she_ had asked _me._ I felt so elated in this moment. Ali leaned into me as I walked, and I felt a smile playing on my face. "Thanks for not killing me back there, by the way," Ali teased once we'd come out of the woods.

I rolled my eyes. "As if I could do that."

"Are we going to go back to the dorms?" Ali asked me.

"Mine's empty right now," I told her, my eyes sparkling a little bit. Ali bit her lip.

"Okay." We got in her car and she started driving us back to the dorms. We talked about Valentine's day coming up and what we should do on that Sunday. We were actually really lucky that Valentine's day had fallen on a Sunday. Even though I usually worked, I could call out with a sick day and spend the whole day with Ali if I wanted.

Back at the dorm building, we took the elevator up to the fifth floor and I led Ali to my dorm, which she hadn't seen yet. I stepped in first, and Ali followed suit. "It looks a lot like mine," she joked, like I had when I saw her dorm the first time. I set my bag down next to my dresser, and Ali did the same. "It would be so much better if these things were bigger."

"Tell me about it," I muttered, rolling my eyes. "I'm really only ever here to sleep and study though, so."

We were both quiet for about half a second, and then Ali swallowed thickly. "So, about those fun things you said that we could do?" My eyes darkened a little bit, and she noticed.

Suddenly, her lips were on mine. Though her lip were incredibly soft, this kiss was intense and hot. I got so wrapped up in it that I didn't even notice that she was pushing me backwards until I was laying on my bed. I wasn't exactly sure how she had pinpointed which bed was mine, but I could tell by the feel of the blankets that she had pinpointed correctly.

Alison was straddling me, unlike last time when I had been on top of her. That just told me that she had gained some confidence, which I decided was a good thing. Especially if it meant that she was going to kiss me like this.

My hands went around to her back, slipping up her blouse and against her skin, as her hands slipped up the front of my shirt. I shivered under her touch. She suddenly disconnected her lips from mine, instead moving them to connect with my neck. I felt my eyes rolling back into my head for a moment, and then she moved her lips back to mine.

Suddenly, we heard a, "Whoa."

Ali pulled up off of me so fast that she fell off of my tiny twin bed. I sat up, alarmed, and looked over at Aria, who was standing in the doorway. Her eyes were a little wide. I looked back at Ali, who was still flat on her ass. "Are you okay?" I asked her, trying not to laugh.

She tried to glare at me as she stood up, wiping off her pants as if they were now dirty. "I'm fine."

I looked over at Aria, who had now completely walked in and closed the door. "I thought you'd be back later."

"And I thought the same about you, so I guess we're both surprised," Aria commented. "Nice to see you, Alison."

"Mm, yeah," Ali answered awkwardly, looking at me with wide eyes.

"What are you doing back so early?" I asked Aria, really just wondering if she was going to be leaving again soon. "Doesn't your class get out in like an hour?"

Aria's cheeks were already pink. "Um, yeah it does. I didn't go to class."

I raised my eyebrows at her. "Oh yeah? Where'd you go? _Ezra's_?" I asked teasingly.

Aria just glared at me. "No, actually."

"Then why are you blushing as if you just snuck off for a nooner?" I asked, smirking. Aria rolled her eyes, and Alison sat down next to me on the small twin bed. We were both sitting sideways on the bed to see Aria. She grabbed my hand, and I tried not to smile.

"I _didn't_ have a _nooner_, thank you very much," Aria growled.

"Were you with Spencer?" I asked, and now Alison let out a loud laugh. Aria did her best to send us daggers through her glare, even though both me and Aria knew that wasn't possible.

"Yes, I was, and I'm not _blushing_," Aria growled, furrowing her eyebrows.

"Take a look in the mirror," I suggested, trying not to giggle.

"Em," Aria said, but now she sounded like she was whining. "Please stop, seriously. There's nothing going on between me and Spencer."

"Okay," I said, shrugging. Ali nudged me, though, and I exchanged a smirk with a her.

Aria just shook her head. "Alison, are you coming to our movie night tonight?"

"Yes," Ali answered, smiling. "And Aria, you can call me Ali, if you want to, you know?"

Aria blinked, like she was a little surprised. "Oh, okay."

"Did Hanna decide what we're going to watch?" I asked Aria as I leaned against Alison.

"I think she picked a lot of romantic comedies," Aria answered, shrugging. "I think she's feeling love deprived lately. Someone needs to set her up on a date."

"I bet I know someone she would like," Ali piped up, smiling a smile that made me think that she was happy to be helpful to my friends.

"_Please_, set them up," Aria pleaded. "Hanna is… I think she's a little annoyed that I'm suddenly dating Ezra, and Emily is suddenly dating you… like, I'm pretty sure that's one of the reason that she reinstated Friday movie nights."

"That's what I was thinking," I agreed. "Since we've both been out the last few Fridays."

"I'll see what I can do," Ali said, chuckling. Suddenly, her phone started to ring, and she glanced at it. Her eyes widened a little bit and she answered it.

"Hey, CeCe," she said. I remembered who she said CeCe was. Suddenly, Ali's face lit up. "What? Are you serious? Yeah! Of course! Bye!"

"What'd she say?" I asked.

"She's _here_," Ali answered, grinning.

"Here? In Rosewood?" I asked, my eyes widening a little bit.

Aria looked confused. "Who's CeCe?"

"Ali's friend from Georgia," I answered.

"She's at the airport, and she wants me to come pick her up!" Alison told us. "I can't believe it. Just a couple of days ago she was telling me that if I wanted to see her again, I was going to have to fly out there."

I smiled, because if Ali was happy, so was I. "I'll go with you to pick her up?" I suggested, and Ali grinned even wider.

"Okay! We better go now, though," Alison said. "Nice seeing you Aria."

"Same," Aria returned.

"See you tonight!" I told Aria as Ali and I grabbed our purses and left.

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**If I'm being honest, I LOVE canon CeCe. At first it may not seem like it, but I did try really hard to make her as much like S3 CeCe as I could. You'll see ;)**

**Likee? Lovee? Hate? Please let me know in a quick review or PM! Also, please follow me on Twitter at BrittzandTana ! Tweet me that you read this and I'll follow you back =)**

**This update was earlier than planned, but I'm going out in about an hour because I have my acting class at 6:30, but my parents have to take my little sis to a school thing, and so I have to tag along with them too that so that they can drop me off on our way back from her thing. Basically, I'm leaving the hosue at 4:30 and won't be home until 8:00, at which point I'll have to eat and then I'll want to sleep so... I updated now. Lol.**

**I'm glad that some of y'all enjoyed my ranting from the last A/N :P I like to do that sometimes, if you haven't noticed xP**

**Sometimes I write out Alison to Emily quotes or visa versa on a piece of paper and I decorate them with colored pencils and hearts and stuff (because I'm really weird and I get bored a lot)... my favorite is one I made of the Great Expectations quote that Ali read to Em... but I started to make one similar to it for the "I always made you think that your feelings for me were totally one sided... That wasn't true. Those kisses weren't just for practice." and it looked so good and I loved it and then I realized that I wrote "completely one sided" instead of "totally" and I was like DAMN IT! :c Lol. Random story. XD That happened last night.**

**Have a great rest of y'all's days/nights lovelies! Please review!**


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N: This story has been relatively good and happy, but every story needs drama at some point.**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own PLL!**

**PLEASE enjoy, favorite, follow and REVIEW!**

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"CeCe!" Alison exclaimed, waving at a blonde wearing a dark coat. Her hair was similar to Ali's, only less gold and less curly. Other than the blonde hair and fair skin, though, they looked completely different.

"Ali, oh my gosh!" CeCe exclaimed, approaching us and grabbing Ali in a hug. "You look totally great! Definitely a lot older than the last time I saw you."

"You too," Ali answered as they pulled out of the hug.

"Who's this?" CeCe asked, looking over at me. I put on a smile and extended my hand to CeCe.

"Emily," I answered.

"Emily is my girlfriend," Ali told CeCe, and I saw a flicker of nervousness as she said the word. What was she worried about? I shook off the question, deciding that if she had thought it was a bad idea to tell CeCe, she wouldn't have.

"Ah," CeCe said, looking back at me again with a smile. She shook my hand. "Nice to meet you, Emily. I'm CeCe. I'm sure you've heard of me."

"Yeah, I have," I answered, smiling.

"How long are you here for CeCe?" Ali asked.

"I'm leaving on Valentine's day morning," CeCe answered, "so we probably shouldn't waste all of our time together standing around in an airport, don't you think? Ali, I was thinking we could go clubbing tonight or something, now that you're twenty-one."

"I was actually hanging out with Emily tonight," Ali told the other blonde, and I tried not to blush. CeCe frowned.

"Come on, Ali, we haven't seen each other in ages!"

"I don't mind," I piped up suddenly, smiling at Ali. "Hanna is probably going to start sobbing during the movies anyway, and Aria and I will have to take care of her."

Ali looked at me suspiciously. "Are you sure?"

"I'm sure," I insisted. "You guys haven't seen each other in forever."

Sure, I was a little bummed, but I knew how much Ali was looking forward to hanging out with CeCe. She dropped me off at the dorms before taking CeCe out on the town, giving me a quick goodbye kiss that I knew I would be savoring until I saw her again. Hopefully it would be soon, even if CeCe was around.

I got kind of a weird vibe from CeCe actually. I wasn't exactly sure what it was, but I wasn't sure that I liked it.

"Hey, where's Ali?" Aria asked me, tilting her head slightly as I walked into the dorm alone.

"Hanging out with CeCe," I answered, giving Aria a half smile.

"Are you okay with that?" Aria asked me pointedly.

I shrugged. "I told her that I was fine with it. They haven't seen each other in years."

"So why do you looked so upset?" Aria asked.

I raised my eyebrows. "I look really upset?"

"To me, yes, because I know you," Aria answered, giving me a look that told me not to question her.

Sighing, I nodded. "We haven't seen each other all week and today was our day to hang out. And we only have the weekends to really hang out anyway, and CeCe is going to be here until Valentine's day."

"Is Ali your date for Valentine's day?"

"Well yeah, but I might not even see her again until then," I muttered, shaking my head. "Whatever. What are you doing?"

I hung out with Aria until seven, when we went down the elevator to the fourth floor to Hanna's apartment. Hanna was prepared with pre-popped popcorn, in like six different flavors, and the first movie was already set up.

"Where's Alison?" Hanna questioned when we came in.

"She's not coming," I answered, "her best friend from Georgia just appeared out of nowhere, and they're hanging out tonight."

Hanna stared at me for a moment. Slowly, she opened her mouth to say something, before clamping it shut again. Whatever she'd been planning to say was gone. I just forced a smile.

"Let's start the movie," I suggested. Hanna dragged all of her sheets and blankets onto the floor in front of her roommate's TV, and the three of us sprawled out on the ground on them to watch the first movie. We ended up watching three in a row and, luckily, Hanna never started getting emotional.

When it was nearly one in the morning, we turned off the TV and sat in a weird triangle on the floor. "So, Alison just ditched you for her friend?"

"No," I answered, shaking my head. "She was going to turn down CeCe, but I told her to go."

"Why would you do that?" Hanna asked.

"Because I don't want to be a weird clingy girlfriend?" I answered, rolling my eyes at Hanna.

"Wait a second," Aria interrupted, "girlfriend? Are you two finally official?"

I blinked realizing that I hadn't told my best friends that yet. I felt my cheeks flush red as I smiled shyly. "Ali asked me earlier, after she asked me to be her Valentine's date."

"Aw!" Aria gushed.

"Aria," I groaned, but she shook her head.

"You tease me about me and Spencer all the time—"

Hanna raised her eyebrows. "Wait, what's going on between you and Spencer?"

"Nothing!" Aria exclaimed quickly. "That's the point. If Emily can make fun of me for no reason, then I'm allowed to make fun of her when there is a perfectly good reason."

"Fine," I answered, laughing lightly. "Whatever."

"Well, I still think that you should have gotten a night with your _girlfriend_," Hanna admitted.

I shrugged, sighing. "It'll be fine. Hopefully we'll get time to hang out while CeCe does whatever it is that CeCes do when they're not stealing girlfriend time."

Hanna and Aria laughed a that one, and then Aria insisted, "It'll be fine. Now, we should probably call it a night. I know tomorrow is Saturday, but I'd rather not sleep until the middle of the day."

"Yeah, see you later, Han," I agreed with Aria as we stood up from the blankets on the floor.

"Bye! Text me tomorrow!" Hanna commanded.

"Will do," we agreed simultaneously, and then we left her dorm room. We took the elevator upstairs, and as we headed back to our dorm, I suddenly ran into Alison.

"Oh, hey," I said, blinking.

"I'll see you inside, Em," Aria told me, stepping around Ali and heading for our dorm.

"Hey, I just wanted to tell you how sorry I am that we didn't hang out tonight," Ali told me, grabbing my hands.

I smiled. "Don't worry about it."

"Too late," Ali admitted teasingly. "I really wanted to come to your movie night thing. Especially since we only have the weekends to see each other."

"You'll just have to repay me somehow," I told her, smiling a little wider.

"I will, tomorrow," Ali promised. "Oh, and after you left earlier, I got a call back from that job."

"Did you get it?" I asked, my eyes widening with anticipation.

"Yes," Ali answered, grinning. "I work during the week days, but I'll have to go in tomorrow so that they can lay out the job information and stuff. But we'll hang out as soon as I'm done with that, I promise. Spencer said that she'll keep CeCe occupied all day."

"Good, so I'll see you tomorrow, then," I said, smiling. "Did you guys just get back or something?"

"Yeah," Ali answered. "We went clubbing, but CeCe goes kind of crazy sometimes, so I designated myself driver." She gave me a half smile. "I'll let you go to bed, though, you look tired."

"Goodnight," I told her, smiling. Ali pulled me closer, and we shared a sweet kiss.

"Goodnight," she breathed out as soon as we were separated. Then she let go of my hands and we both started in the opposite directions that we needed to be going.

I stepped into the dorm and Aria was already in pajamas, looking at me expectantly. "What'd she want?"

"She apologized for today, then she told me about the new job she got, and then we decided that we're hanging out tomorrow, while Spencer occupies CeCe all day," I answered, chuckling.

"What do you think of this CeCe girl?" Aria wondered.

"She gave me a sort of weird vibe. I'm not sure what to think of her, but she's Ali's like _best_ friend aside from Spencer," I answered, shrugging. "I'm tired, we should probably sleep."

"Okay. Night, Em," Aria mumbled, laying down in her bed.

The next morning, I realized that I was out of some of my makeup and found myself going to the store at what felt like an ungodly hour, even though it was like ten in the morning.

I was in the makeup aisle when I suddenly heard a slightly familiar voice approaching me. "Hi! Emily, right?"

I turned my head and forced a smile at CeCe. "Hey, CeCe."

"I'm here with Spencer, she's dragging me along for all of the errands she has today," CeCe told me, rolling her eyes. I tried not to smile at that. "So, you're Ali's girlfriend."

"Yeah," I answered, quirking up an eyebrow at the blonde. "Why?"

"Look, I love Ali, as my best friend of course," CeCe stated simply. "But I know… how she can be. I've seen her do a lot of horrible things in her life, and I just feel that I should warn you."

"Ali isn't going to hurt me," I argued, furrowing my eyebrows.

"I bet she's promised and proved that in multiple ways, huh?" CeCe asked. "Here's the thing, lovely, Alison will go through anything if it means getting what she wants."

"And what would she get out of hurting me?" I demanded. The weird vibe from CeCe was gone, but now I just didn't like her. At all.

"Once everyone knows about you and her and your guys' relationship, she'll break up with you. Somewhere low key with no witnesses," CeCe started.

"What she get out of doing that?" I asked, shaking my head a little.

"She'll tell everyone that _you_ dumped _her_. She'll make up a reason, but everyone will believe it. After they saw her being all cute and mushy with you, they'll pity her and feel sorry for her," CeCe explained.

I furrowed my eyebrows again. "Ali wouldn't ever do that to me."

"Emily, you'll just be collateral damage to Alison," CeCe insisted. "Take it from someone who knows, Alison cares a lot more about her image than she does about people. She _needs_ people to like her, and she'll get that however she wants. Trust me, I've seen her do almost exactly the same thing before."

"CeCe, Ali promised me that—"

"_Listen_, I'm just trying to help you. Ali can only be friends with people that fight her fire with fire. AKA, Spencer and me. I've learned that everyone else in her life is tossed aside after a few weeks. I'm only trying to help you," CeCe told me in a strict voice.

"CeCe! Come on!" came Spencer's voice from down the aisle.

"Got to go, lovely," CeCe said, looking at me pointedly. "Just remember that I warned you, babe."

I furrowed my eyebrows as CeCe walked off. I shook my head, looking back at the makeup I needed to buy. But now I couldn't concentrate. Alison _had_ said that CeCe knew her better than everyone, except for _maybe_ Spencer. My mind immediately thought back to the Instagram picture that Ali and I posted.

When I thought about it, CeCe's explanation actually seemed really plausible. But Ali _had_ promised me that she wasn't trying to do something like that. Hanna, though, had also mentioned that she did that to people.

I shook my head again, trying to clear it. Was all of this just a game to Alison? Was she really planning on dumping me and then telling people that I dumped her?

I grabbed the makeup that I was pretty sure was the right one and went to the checkout to buy it. I was in a daze as I walked back to my car and headed to the dorms. CeCe knew Alison, and she said she'd seen Ali do bad things like that first hand.

Maybe she was completely right.

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**Okay okay... I want to explain some things, but I think I have to wait another chapter before I can... Just try not to hate CeCe too much. As this drama progresses things will start to make some sense and... gah, I can't explain without spoiling yet lol.**

**Please leave me a review! Let me know what you thought =D Also, please follow me on Twitter at BrittzandTana ! Tweet me that you read this story and I will follow you back =D**

**Just so that you all know, I plan for this story to be pretty long. Last night, I could NOT fall asleep, because I had all of these ideas for things in this story. I literally had to open up my laptop and finish chapter 21 last night at 1AM before I felt content enough to fall asleep. Lol...**

**Have a great day my lovelies! I hope that you'll review even though this chapter was kinda short and kinda evil... Lol... Happy PLL day, by the way!**


	18. Chapter 18

**A/N: Brace yourselves... .**

**PS... this story has been, and is intended to be mostly Emily POV... however, for these drama chapters, most of the POV is Alison because... it works better..**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own PLL!**

**PLEASE enjoy, favorite, follow and REVIEW!**

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I was on my drive home from the fashion studio place that I was now employed at, and I decided to call Emily about what we were going to do later. I really was grateful to Spencer for distracting CeCe all day, because I felt really bad for abandoning Em the previous day.

The call went to voicemail, which only ever happened when Emily was in class. My eyebrows furrowed as I clicked her name again. Voicemail again.

I huffed, dropping my phone in my lap as I put my full attention on the road again. I decided that I would call again once I got back to the dorm.

Once I did, I found myself sprawled over my tiny bed on my phone.

**To Emily- Hey, you there?**

**To Emily- I tried calling you a few times. We're going to hang out today, right? My job thing went well.**

Still no response. I didn't remember Emily mentioning that she had anything else to do today, but maybe she did, and she just didn't have her phone on.

I tried calling her one more time anyway, and then I decided to give up. She would call me as soon as she realized that I'd called and texted her so many times. There wasn't a point in continuing to spam her with calls and texts.

That's what I kept telling myself all day, when I got no responses from my girlfriend. I started to get worried.

I left my dorm to go upstairs to the fifth floor. I remembered exactly where Emily's dorm was, and I got there and knocked on the door timidly. Aria answered. "Hi, Alison. Emily's not here."

I pursed my lips. "Do you know where she is?"

"I think she got called into an extra shift at work," Aria answered, shrugging. "Why?"

"She wasn't answering any of my calls or texts," I answered. "We were supposed to hang out today."

Aria frowned. "Oh. Well, if she got called into an extra shift, it's probably because the place is really busy. I'm sure she'll call you back tonight or tomorrow."

I nodded stiffly. "Alright, yeah. I just wanted to make sure that she's alright," I admitted, and Aria smiled at me.

"See you later, Ali," she said. I smiled, and then she closed the door. I sighed, turning back around and going back downstairs.

I found myself falling asleep before Spencer was even back, even though I was hardly tired at the time. I woke up really early the next morning and found that I still hadn't gotten any texts or calls back from Emily. I tried not to be worried. Emily had probably been really tired after her shift at work. Or maybe she'd left her phone at work. Or it had been stolen. There were plenty of things that could be the reason for Emily not calling me back.

I was really stressed though, so I went on a run around part of campus. I really only ever went running to relieve stress, and it helped a lot. I got back up to the dorms and showered before just going back to my dorm. Spencer was gone by the time I was back, but I had no idea where she'd gone.

CeCe had told me that she was going to come hang out with me in the afternoon, so that left me with no one all morning.

**To Emily- Busy? You never called me back yesterday. Everything okay?**

I still got no reply, so I called her once more just for good measure, but she didn't pick up. I tried not to be too disheartened, but I went through everything in my head. Had I done something would make Emily not want to talk to me? I had apologized for Friday, and she had seemed fine when I talked to her late that night.

I hadn't talked to her since then, so I decided that it had to have been a completely different reason. I couldn't have done anything wrong, because I hadn't even spoken to her since like one in the morning on Saturday.

At noon, Spencer got back to the dorm with an Aria in tow. "Oh, hey Ali. I thought you'd be out already."

"CeCe should be here in a couple of hours," I stated, looking between the two of them.

"Is that Emily's jacket?" Aria asked me, gesturing to the jacket that I was wearing. I bit the inside of my lip and Spencer smirked.

"Yes," I answered, pulling it tighter around me. "By the way, have you talked to Emily today?"

"Yeah, we do sort of live together," Aria answered, giving me a weird look.

I sighed. "Did she lose her phone or something? Because she still won't answer any of my texts or calls."

Aria raised her eyebrows. "No, her phone is fine and she has it. I really don't know why she's not answering you."

"Did something happen between you two?" Spencer asked me.

"No," I answered, furrowing my eyebrows as I called Emily once again. This time, when it went to voicemail, I left one. "Hey, Em. I've been calling and texting you since yesterday. I'm just wondering why you're not talking to me? Did I do something? Please call me back."

I ended the voice message and sighed, looking back over to Aria and Spencer. Aria opened her mouth slowly. "I can talk to her if you want."

I just shrugged. "If you want." I got up off of my bed, peeling off Emily's jacket and grabbing my purse. "If CeCe gets here before me, just tell her I'll be back soon."

"Wait, where are you going?" Spencer asked.

"Just the Brew. I need coffee."

And then I was gone.

I was hoping that I might run into Emily at the Brew, and I even stood outside the place to drink my coffee in case she came by, but I didn't see her. I had no idea why she was avoiding me, but I felt horrible about it. Had I done something? Had Mona maybe done something?

Sighing, I got back in my car and drove back to the dorms. When I got there, Aria was gone, but CeCe wasn't there. It was just me and Spencer. "Hey, did you enjoy your coffee?" she asked me.

"Nope," I answered honestly. "I'm so confused. Why would Emily suddenly stop talking to me? I apologized to her about Friday, and she had seemed totally fine. She said we would hang out yesterday."

"I don't know, Ali," Spencer answered, frowning. "Does she work today? You could go see her there."

"Probably," I agreed, "but CeCe has me booked this afternoon."

Speaking of CeCe, she came through the door just after I spoke. "Hey lovelies!"

I sighed, because I really didn't feel like going out.

"Oh! Maybe CeCe noticed Emily being weird," Spencer piped up.

"What?" I asked, looking over at CeCe.

Spencer shrugged. "She saw Emily at the store yesterday."

"You talked to Emily?" I demanded, raising my eyebrows. "What did you tell her?"

"We didn't really get a lot of time to talk, Ali. Spencer was practically making me hold her hand," CeCe told me, shrugging. "Now are we going to go hang out or not?"

_EEE_

It was after work on Sunday, and Aria was over at Ezra's. I was sitting all alone on my bed. I supposed that I could ask Hanna to come and hang out with me, but I decided against it. I took out my phone.

Sighing, I stared at my missed texts and calls from Alison. What CeCe had told me had really sunk in, which is why I hadn't texted or called her back. I realized, though, that it totally wasn't fair for me to not even let Ali explain herself.

Taking a deep breath, I clicked on Ali's name.

"Emily!" came her voice after one ring. "Give me a second, I need to go somewhere quiet."

The background noise was so loud, and I had no idea where she was. Maybe she was clubbing with CeCe again?

It started to get a little quieter. "Emily, talk to me."

"Ali, I think we need to talk," I admitted, "about—"

Suddenly I heard another voice. It didn't sound like it was on Ali's phone, but coming from next to Ali. "Come on, Ali!" It sounded like CeCe, and it sounded like she'd been drinking.

"Ugh. I'm sorry, Emily, I can't talk right now. I'll call you tomorrow!" The line ended.

I clenched my teeth as I tossed my phone away from me. I buried my face into my pillow and tried not to cry. Maybe, since she saw CeCe again, she found out that CeCe had given away her plan and now she was going to break up with me. I had fallen into this feeling of happiness, and I had started not protecting myself. Had there been signs of this that I missed? I felt like anything could be possible right now, because the last couple weeks had me feeling nothing but bliss.

I shook my head as I felt some tears leak out of my eyes. I called Alison again one more time, in case she might answer and then we could talk without interruptions, but no answer.

_AAA_

On Monday, I knew that I needed to talk to Emily. I felt really bad for hanging up on Emily and missing her second call, and I knew that I had to talk to her before things got any worse. Whatever had happened to make her not want to talk to me had to be sorted out. It was probably just a simple misunderstanding.

Unfortunately, our classes overlapped every day, and the only time that she might be available, which was when she would be at work, I had to go to my work. Monday, therefore, was a bust.

I was determined to see Emily on Tuesday, which is why I literally stood outside her dorm room for a period of two hours waiting for her to show up, even if it was just for a few minutes before she went to work or something.

And luckily, I saw her. It was like my breath was taken away from me when I saw her coming down the hallway, fiddling with her purse. It felt like it had been forever since I last saw her.

"Emily," I called as she got nearer to her door.

Emily looked up, alarmed. "What do you want, Alison?"

"I'd like to know exactly why you haven't been calling me back," I said, frowning.

"I did call you back on Sunday, when you were too busy to talk to me," Emily stated.

"Em, CeCe practically tore my phone out of my hands!" I exclaimed. "Look, what happened? Did I do something?"

"How about 'are you going to do something'?" Emily snapped. I raised my eyebrows.

"What is it exactly that you think that I'm going to do?" I asked, trying to keep my voice level. I was used to getting offensive when I was being defensive, but I couldn't do that with Emily. That would ruin everything, I knew that.

"Look, are you playing me or not?" Emily demanded.

"No!" I exclaimed. "Haven't I already promised you that a billion times? Where would you even get the idea that I'm playing you? Emily, I _really_ like you, you know that!"

"I'm not so sure," Emily stated. "As for where I got the idea, how about the fact that you've played people like this before?"

"_Like this_? Like what, Emily? I'm not playing you!" I exclaimed. Emily sighed, stepping around me and trying to get to her door. I quickly stepped in front of it. "You're not leaving until we figure this out."

"Look, I get it. You want the masses to love you, but using me for that isn't going to get you anywhere," Emily snapped.

"What are you talking about?" I demanded, but something about that sounded a little familiar.

"Clearly, you love to lie, but I'll save you one lie. When you tell everyone that I dumped you, you won't be lying," she snapped. My jaw dropped, and she gently pushed past me to get into her dorm.

Had Emily just dumped me?

Yes.

Why _the hell_ had she just dumped me?

* * *

**Okay... Now, you're probably pissed at CeCe and at Emily and probably at me too. Let it all out. "TANA SCREW YOU WHY WOULD YOU MESS WITH MY OTP LIKE THIS AND OMG I HATE CECE AND EMILY WHY AREN'T YOU TRUSTING ALI" Okay, now that it's out... When CeCe talked to her, Em realized that she has been so happy that she may have not noticed Ali's plan, and maybe she had been too happy to notice anything. Plus, she knows that CeCe is Ali's like... BEST friend, aside from Spencer... she's scared, and she doesn't know what to do. Please don't be too mad at her.**

**Please leave me a review, even if you totally hate me! ;) Also, please follow me on Twitter at BrittzandTana ! Tweet me that you read this, and I'll follow you back! ;)**

**I just did the ALS ice bucket challenge xP Find the link to it in my recent tweets on Twitter! It was cold! . xP**

**Have a great day my loves! Last chapter of RIMS goes up in about half an hour, give or take a few minutes. :) Please review!**


	19. Chapter 19

**A/N: Little filler chapter... it's important though lol, so I guess not totally filler. Kind of like the last PLL ep. Lol...**

**Random shoutouts to Twitter users EmisonStydia and heyypieterse and PieterseGirl for making my night much less boring lol.**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own PLL!**

**PLEASE enjoy, favorite, follow and REVIEW!**

* * *

I skipped my class on Wednesday—it was the first time that I'd done that all through college. I wouldn't have done it if I could force myself up out of bed on Wednesday morning. But I couldn't. I had cried my eyes out of tears, and I spent the entire morning laying on my bed, staring at the ceiling as my dried tears made my face feel really weird.

Spencer got back to the dorm later, and she knew that something was wrong. I should've been in class. "Okay, what the hell happened yesterday?"

I didn't even turn my head. "Emily broke up with me."

"What?" Spencer demanded. "Why?"

"She thought that I was… playing her," I stated, my voice shaking as I felt more tears coming on.

"What? Why would she think that?" Spencer demanded.

"Got me," I answered, forcing myself to sit up and face my best friend. "I went to talk to her yesterday, and she freaked out at me. She sounded so sure. As if she had gotten everything about me playing her from some really reliable source. I swear to god if _Hanna_ said something…"

"Hanna wouldn't ever do that to Emily, they're best friends," Spencer stated.

"Yeah, well Hanna _hated_ me! Maybe once Emily told her that we were official, she decided that she couldn't let Emily be with such a _bitch_ any more," I snapped, my voice getting louder.

"Calm down, Alison, okay? I'll call Aria and talk to her, okay?" Spencer suggested.

I rolled my eyes involuntarily and fell back against my pillow.

"Hey, Aria, it's Spence," Spencer said. "Yeah, sorry, I'll make it quick. Did Emily tell you what happened between her and Ali yesterday? Okay yeah, I know what Emily thinks—"

I sighed.

"Look, Aria, I don't know why Emily is so sure that Alison is messing with her, but I'm her _best_ friend, and I _promise_—"

"Hey, bitches!" CeCe exclaimed as she suddenly burst into our dorm. I huffed, throwing my hands up and over my dried tears. I didn't need CeCe here trying to drag me out to do something.

"No, Aria, please just let me—" Spencer suddenly stopped talking. "She hung up on me. She said it was because she had a class, but…"

"Who's Aria?" CeCe asked.

"Emily's best friend," Spencer answered, shaking her head at CeCe.

"What's up with you, babe?" CeCe asked me, sitting on top of my feet on my bed. I rolled my eyes up to hold back the tears that I now felt coming back to me.

"Emily broke up with me," I answered, my voice sounding really shaky. "And I have no idea what I did to make her mad at me."

"Aw…" CeCe pulled me up and wrapped me in a hug. I felt more tears leaking out of my eyes as I pulled back away from her.

"I have to work, you two, but Ali, tonight we'll talk, okay?" Spencer said. I nodded to her and then she left the dorm, leaving me alone with CeCe. I just hoped and hoped that she wouldn't drag me out to do something "fun" to cheer me up. I wasn't in the mood at all.

"So what exactly happened?" CeCe asked me.

"I tried to talk to her yesterday, because she's been avoiding me, and she freaked out. She was sure that I didn't really like her, and that I was lying to her and playing her. She broke up with me at the end of the conversation," I muttered, wiping at my tears as I sniffled.

CeCe brushed some of my hair out of my face, and then she gave me a small smile. "You don't have to pretend around me, sweetie. Spencer's gone."

"What?" I asked, furrowing my eyebrows.

"You don't have to pretend to be all heartbroken," CeCe answered, giving me a weird look.

"What are you talking about?" I demanded, now completely confused. "You think I'm happy that Emily broke up with me?"

"Come on, you and I both know that you broke up with her. I just didn't think you'd do it so soon," CeCe said, shaking her head a little bit. "Poor girl."

I pulled completely away from her. "What the hell are you talking about, CeCe? I didn't break up with Emily."

"I'm just glad that I at least warned her first," CeCe muttered.

"CeCe Drake, what the hell did you say to Emily on Saturday?" I growled.

CeCe gave me a weird look. "Look, I just thought that she deserved a warning so that she didn't have to be completely blindsided when you broke up with her and said she did it."

"CeCe…" I took a deep breath. "Please tell me that you didn't do that."

"Why?" CeCe asked.

"I wasn't playing Emily! I _really_ liked her! I worked so hard to get her to believe that, CeCe! And you just ruined it all!" I exclaimed, my voice sounding much more angry than sad now.

"Hey, you didn't even tell me about this girl when we were talking," CeCe snapped at me. "Don't get mad at me for assuming that you're still Alison DiLaurentis."

"Alison DiLaurentis has a heart, you know?" I snapped at her.

"Hey, you and I both know why I would think that you were playing her, okay? I'm sorry if I messed something up, but I didn't want the poor girl getting hurt. Okay, she really likes you," CeCe told me.

"_Liked_," I corrected, holding back a new group of tears. "CeCe, she hates me now!"

"I'm sorry for talking to her, Ali, but you can't blame me for all of this. You're at fault here, too, and you know it," CeCe stated, getting off of my bed and heading for the door. She took a deep breath as she opened the door. Glancing back at me, she added, "I am sorry, Alison."

As soon as the door was closed, I grabbed my pillow and let out a blood curdling scream into it. I knew why CeCe did what she did, and that's why I couldn't be completely angry with her. It was my fault that CeCe looked at me that way. It was _entirely_ my fault.

Now that I knew why Emily broke up with me, I knew that if I tried hard enough, I could get her back.

But my phone buzzed with an alarm that told me that I had work in an hour, and I sighed. I could get her back, but not right now. Right now, I had to make sure that I didn't completely check out of life.

_EEE_

"Have you talked to her since Tuesday?" Hanna asked me on Thursday after my morning class. I shook my head.

"No. She hasn't called either. I don't expect her to. I just did exactly what she was going to do," I stated, taking a sip of the coffee in my hand as we walked down the sidewalk. We had grabbed lunch and then coffee, and now we were walking back to where we'd left our cars by the Brew.

"Emily… I know that I was really against Alison in the beginning, but do you really think that she was going to do that?" Hanna asked me. "You were so sure that she wasn't going to hurt you…"

"She's a good liar," I stated.

"How do you know she was lying?" Hanna asked. "She hasn't lied to you before."

"Maybe she has," I stated, shrugging. "You don't know. I don't know. At least now, I don't have to worry about it."

"What happened to you not wanting to end it just because there was a possibility that you might get hurt?" Hanna demanded.

Sighing, I lowered my gaze to the top of my coffee cup. "Hanna… Alison _told _me that CeCe knew her better than anyone. If CeCe thought that Ali was playing me…"

Hanna looped her arm with mine. "Let's just stop talking about it. Come on, we can go see a movie or something."

I smiled, and we veered off of our present course and started toward the movie theater. "Can it not be something black and white?"

"Sure, we will watch the most colorful movie that's out," Hanna promised, chuckling. "It'll be even more colorful than a gay rainbow." I laughed at her and shook my head, though I was actually really grateful that she was hanging out with me. Aria was going to be busy all day, so Hanna had dropped her afternoon Thursday class to keep me from being alone. Even though I had broken up with Ali, I was pretty hurt, too, and I had good reason to be.

_AAA_

"Have you talked to Emily about the CeCe thing yet?" Spencer questioned me, as she walked into the dorm Thursday night.

"No," I answered, sighing. "I know she won't pick up if I call, and we always have overlapping schedules. I'm going to go to her dorm tomorrow."

"And if she doesn't want to talk?" Spencer asked, looking at me pointedly as if I were taking a quiz and she wanted to make sure that I was going to get the answer right.

"I'm going to make her listen, Spence," I answered, shaking my head a little at her. "I just need her to know why CeCe would think that I would do that to her. She deserves to know, even if she doesn't end up believing me. I mean, it also kind of hurts to know that she would believe that about me… but if she can forgive me for everything I've done in my past, then I can forgive her for that. We just have to see if she is willing to forgive."

"Emily is a really nice girl, Alison. She's smart, too. Don't worry. I have a good feeling about how this is going to turn out, Ali," Spencer insisted.

I sighed. "I hope so. I was really looking forward to Valentine's day."

"Did you plan out a date?" Spencer asked, wiggling her eyebrows at me teasingly. I couldn't help but laugh a little bit.

"I had a few ideas," I answered, sighing.

"Are you mad at CeCe?" Spencer asked me, sitting down on her bed and setting her bag next to her.

"Am I mad at her for talking to Emily? I guess. But I can't really be mad at her… I mean, CeCe, you and I know why she thinks about me like that still. It also doesn't really help that I didn't even tell her about Emily before she got here," I muttered, rolling my eyes at myself.

"Yeah, why didn't you?" Spencer questioned, raising one of her eyebrows at me suspiciously.

"Please, Spence," I said sarcastically, shaking my head. "CeCe would never have got over the fact that I actually like someone. She would have teased me forever. Plus, I _was_ going to tell her, but only whenever Emily and I got a lot more serious."

"How much more serious?" Spencer asked, raising her eyebrows a little bit. I sighed.

"Come on, Spencer. Emily and I were barely even official. And it's not like… it's not like we even had sex," I said, sighing. "I just wish I'd done more to prevent this."

"It's not entirely your fault, Ali, don't forget that. CeCe had no right to intervene in your relationship, whether she thought it was real or not. Ultimately, she delivered the blow," Spencer reminded me.

"Yeah, but I gave her force," I argued, shaking my head. "Whatever. I'm going to talk to Emily tomorrow and sort all of this out. It'll be fine. Like you said, she's smart. She'll understand. I know she will. She likes me and I like her… I'll do anything. I feel so empty without her."

Spencer reached across the space between our beds and took my hand, squeezing it. "You'll get her back."

* * *

**What do you think Ali did to make CeCe so convinced that she didn't care about any relationships besides hers with CeCe and Spencer? :S**

**Let me know what you think in a quick review xP Also, please follow me on Twitter at BrittzandTana and tweet me that you read this for a follow back! Or so that you can pester me all the time for updates like SOME people do XD**

**I will probably update around this time again tomorrow - I have to help my fellow choir officers set up the choir room for school starting next week, and I'll be gone for a large part of the day.**

**So, I won't keep dragging out this A/N, because I have some rabid readers waiting on Twitter and I'm a little afraid they'll murder me if I wait any longer to post.**

**Goodnight lovelies! Please review! :)**


	20. Chapter 20

**A/N: Hey everyone! Haven't got much to say up here except to answer a review...**

**To the Guest reviewer with the criticism. First of all, hello! Thanks for your review! Second of all, I completely agree with something that you said- the drama that was put between Ali and Emily "by" CeCe was somewhat manufactured. While I do agree that I could have made it flow better and make a lot more sense, I was actually starting to get a little stuck with the story, and I knew that I had to incorporate some drama. Unfortunately, I had no ideas, and this was the only one that I felt I could make work. I wrote the last few chapters and then almost trashed them all, because I was worried that they were really unrealistic and stupid and I was really, really worried about how it would all work out. I think this chapter, which you obviously haven't read yet, justified it all a little more in my mind, allowing things to somewhat make more sense. While it may not have been the most natural drama ever, it was really necessary and I am still working on incorporating drama into stories. I'm not perfect. Still, thank you for your criticism. I am really sorry that you believe that this has ruined my story, and that it made you want to "throw up in your hands and quit a story", and that you thought it was cheap. Really, I'm sorry. You may not even be back to read this review, but if you are, maybe you'll review again. I really wish that you, and EVERYONE who wishes to give me any sort of criticism would at least review from an account. No offense to you of course, but when people post anything negative as a guest reviewer, I naturally assume that they were, in a way, performing the equivalent of a Hit And Run. Like, you're dishing out criticism, but not allowing me to come back to you with my response. Perhaps you just don't have time to create an account, and if so, like I said, no offense meant.**

**Okay, now that that's out of the way, let's get some happiness back in here :)**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own PLL!**

**PLEASE enjoy, favorite, follow and REVIEW!**

* * *

I took a deep breath as I looked at myself in the bathroom mirror. I looked at my golden curls, my neat makeup, and my simple outfit. I looked just the same as always, but all of the makeup I was wearing was waterproof. In case I started crying when I went to talk to Emily in about five minutes.

The weirdest thing had happened earlier. Hanna had come to my dorm room with a look of determination on her face.

"Alison DiLaurentis, were you playing Emily?" she had asked me.

"No!" I had answered, sounding defensive. Then I had cleared my throat, and explained to Hanna about what went down with CeCe. I told her about why CeCe had said anything at all, and everything else that was relevant to this situation. I had almost expected her to beat me up or something, but she had taken a deep breath.

"Good," she had said, "then you better make things right with her."

Before left, I had said, "Hanna, I need to know when Emily is going to be in her dorm today. I'm going to tell her everything."

She had told me that she was going out with Emily until about two in the afternoon, and that Emily didn't have any plans from then until their movie night at seven.

It was two-thirty right now, and I was pushing this back and back. I was so nervous to talk to Emily about CeCe and everything. I knew that Emily knew a lot of the bad things I'd done, because I knew that Hanna used to gossip about me all of the time. But I didn't want Emily to know those things about me, and I definitely didn't want to be the one to tell her about that stuff.

I took another deep breath and turned, leaving the bathroom. I walked down the hallway, passed my dorm room, and walked all the way to the elevators. With a shaky hand, I pressed the up arrow. The elevator instantly opened. Once inside, I clicked the fifth floor button with an even more shaky hand.

I squeezed my eyes shut as I heard the quiet ding of the elevator passing the fourth floor. Then the loud ding of the fifth floor, and my eyes flew open. My heart was beating so hard as I remembered our first kiss, which was in this elevator. My heart ached, and I knew that this had to work. If I didn't get Emily back, this was going to be my first official, real heart break, and I had no idea what that would do to me.

My fist wasn't tight or steady as I knocked weakly on Emily's door. It swung open, and the look on Emily's face made me guess that she thought I was Hanna or something. She was about to close it again, but I stuck my hand out to stop it from closing on me. "Emily, please let me talk," I said, my voice sounding desperate.

"I don't want to hear what you have to say," Emily told me.

I shook my head. "You don't understand, Emily. I can explain all that stuff about CeCe."

"Why couldn't you explain earlier this week then?" Emily demanded.

I gave her a pleading look. "Em, I didn't even know that CeCe had said anything more than hello to you when you broke up with me."

Emily sighed, and she shrugged. "Go ahead."

"Thank you," I breathed out, trying to get a hold of myself before I broke down to tears. "CeCe told you that I was going to dump you and say that you did it, right?"

"Right," Emily confirmed.

I took a deep breath, trying to figure out how to get this all out. "She thought that's what I was going to do, but she didn't _know_ anything."

"I thought you said that she knew you better than anyone, except for _maybe_ Spencer?" Emily asked me pointedly.

"She does, Em, but lately, I've been a lot different," I admitted. "Around you. I know that sounds totally cliché, but I promise, I'm a lot different when I'm around you, with you. Just having you in my life makes me want to be less of a crazy ass bitch."

"Okay, so what are you trying to say? CeCe sounded so sure, Alison. She said that she'd seen you do this to people before," Emily stated.

I sighed deeply. "She has." Emily gave me a look that told me that I should probably continue. "Emily, what she thought I was going to do you… I almost did it to her."

Emily's eyes widened. "She—"

"Not that way, Em. I didn't… I didn't pretend to date her or anything. I did to that to this guy once, but that's not what CeCe was talking about," I started.

"Wait, I thought you said you two were best friends?" Emily asked.

"We are, now. When CeCe got in contact with me when I started high school, we talked a lot. She was a good friend. But I didn't do friends back then, Em. I had Spencer, and that's all I needed when it came to real friends. So… CeCe came and visited me in the middle of my freshmen year. She's older than us, if you couldn't tell, so she was like a senior. I took her to this party that this guy at my school was throwing.

"I told everyone that she was my _best_ friend and that we told each other everything, which was only kind of true at the time. I did this thing where every time I talked to her, I got all sweet and stuff. But see, we were at a party with like half of Rosewood Day. I didn't _need_ CeCe, and in my mind, that was enough for it not to matter if she was my friend or not. I started to make this whole scene in front of everyone. I was pretending to freak out as if CeCe had totally betrayed my trust or done something horrible," I admitted.

"So you made her look like the bad guy?" Emily asked.

"Exactly. She figured me out, though, and she didn't even yell back. She just quietly asked if she could talk to me in private, and once we were alone. She went off on me. She told me that she wasn't going to be played and that she wouldn't take any shit like that. Once I realized that she was kind of like Spencer—she could fight my fire with the same about of fire—I realized that I actually wanted her to stick around. I apologized to her a billion times, and we're best friends now but… she still thinks I would do things like that for the extra attention," I finished, holding back tears. I hated that I used to be like that.

"What about that guy you said you did that to? When was that?" I asked.

"It was right after I did that thing to CeCe. I just needed some way to get people to feel sorry for me. Once I went through with it, though, I felt so bad. I didn't tell anyone that, but I haven't done anything like that since freshmen year of high school, Em," I promised her.

Emily looked at me carefully. "She was so sure that I would just be the collateral damage to you."

I took a deep breath, before admitting, "Emily, I didn't even tell CeCe about you and I dating before she got here."

"What? Why not?" Emily asked, and now she looked a little angry.

"Calm down, please," I begged weakly. "I should have told her, and I wanted to. But… she would've teased me forever, and Spencer was already teasing me enough. I was going to tell her maybe after Valentine's day or something. Once we were really serious."

Emily lowered her gaze.

"CeCe might have told you that stuff about me, but it's not all her fault. It's mostly mine. I didn't tell you about that stuff, and I didn't tell her about you. I accept full responsibility for everything, Em," I said, before pursing my lips and willing her to say something.

When she looked back up at me, there were tears in her eyes. "Ali… did I mess this all up?"

The weakness in her voice, and the tears in her eyes, tore my heart apart. "No," I answered immediately, "you didn't, Emily."

Emily turned away from me, walking back into her dorm. She didn't close the door behind her, so I tentatively followed her into the room. "Yes I did," Emily muttered, sitting down on her bed.

I gently shut her dorm door and went to sit on Aria's bed, across from Emily. "Em, we both made mistakes this week. I didn't tell CeCe how I really felt about you and I didn't tell you about what I did to CeCe. Sure, you believed CeCe and thought that there was a possibility that I would want to ruin this, but Em, I'm the only reason you believed CeCe anyway. I told you that she knew me, and I guess I was a little wrong. Spencer definitely knows me better than her."

"But I didn't even listen to you on Tuesday," Emily whispered out, tears falling out of her eyes. "I was just so scared. Even Hanna wasn't as scared for me as I was, which is new when it comes to you and me."

I lowered my gaze to Emily's hands, which were in her lap wringing together. When I looked back up to her eyes, which were looking anywhere but me, I admitted, "Hanna showed up earlier. She wanted me to come and apologize just as much as I wanted to. Emily, I am so sorry for everything."

"I'm sorry, too," Emily whispered, "but I didn't trust you, Ali."

"I think I can forgive you, if you can forgive all of the shit I've done," I said, chuckling weakly. "I don't deserve you, Emily. I don't even know why you want to go out with me at all. I've done so many bad things, and you're such a good person."

Emily finally met my eyes as she sat up a little straighter. "Ali, I don't see bad when I look at you."

I smiled as a tear dropped out of my right eye. I didn't bother wiping it away. "I don't know how that's possible."

Emily shook her head, looking away from me. "This is all my fault."

I frowned again. "Em, I just told you. This is just as much fault as it is yours."

"Alison—"

"No, listen again for a second, please," I interrupted. "I need to be completely honest with you. I don't want you to know about the bad things I've done, but this has made me realize that you need to know about them. Or we just need to both acknowledge that they're there. Maybe you see me as a good person, and I'm going to be. I'm going to be a good person for you, Emily. But…"

Emily tilted her head slightly at me, and then she patted the spot on her bed next to her. I didn't hesitate to sit next to her, folding my legs under me, and she immediately leaned into me. She breathed out slowly. "I missed you, Ali."

"I missed you too, Em." I grabbed her hand, and she intertwined our fingers. "I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry, too."

"So… we're going to be okay?" I asked, my voice small. "You're still going to be my Valentine's date?"

"And your girlfriend, if you want me back," Emily told me, her eyes a little wide and cute as she looked at me.

"I might have to think about that," I teased, nudging her a little bit as I met her eyes. Suddenly, her lips were on mine. They tasted a little bit like tears, but I didn't care. I disconnected our hands so that mine could rest on her shoulder and pull her closer to me.

Her hand suddenly rested on my thigh, and she pushed me backwards a little. I wrapped both of my arms around her neck, keeping our lips together as she pushed me down onto her pillow. Her tongue slid across my lips, and I parted them to let her in. Our kiss was slow and soft, unlike some of our previous ones.

This felt more real than anything I had ever felt.

It didn't last incredibly long, though, because the door opened suddenly. I sighed internally as Emily quickly pulled off of me. At least she didn't fall on her ass like I did last time, though.

"Oh. Hi. Alison. Whoa. Did you two make up?" Aria asked.

Emily glanced at me as I sat up, and she smiled. "Yeah, we did."

"Thank goodness. Because you guys started fighting right when I was actually starting to really like you, Ali," Aria said, smiling. Then she looked at our position. "But is this going to happen every week?"

"Maybe," Emily answered, blushing. This being interrupted during kissing was sort of getting repetitive.

"We just had a misunderstanding. We both made mistakes, and we're going to work past them together," I stated, grabbing Emily's hand.

"Good, because last weekend, after Emily told me that you guys were having Valentine's together, I did something and I haven't undone it yet, because I was counting on you working through this. Actually, I was going to undo it today—"

"Aria, what is it?" Emily interrupted.

Aria dug around in her purse, and then she pulled out a piece of paper. She came over and sat on her bed, passing us the paper.

"Did you book us a room here?" Emily asked.

The paper was a receipt from a Marriot hotel. "Yes," Aria answered, "for Sunday night. It's in Philly, so you might have to miss a class on Monday."

Emily looked at me, and I shrugged. "I'd love to have a night away with you. We won't have to worry about Sparia walking in on us," I stated.

"_Sparia?_" Aria demanded.

I just laughed lightly. "Anyway, I already missed a class on Wednesday because of you, Em, so I don't mind missing another if it means that I'm going to actually get something good out of it this time."

Emily grinned at me, and then at Aria. "Thank you, Aria."

Aria smiled. "Thank me by not breaking up again. Spencer and I felt so weird hanging out while you two were apart."

"Wait, you two hung out after we broke up too? Like within the last two days?" I asked, and then I looked at Emily. "It's happening."

Emily let out a loud laugh, and Aria glared at both of us. "You two are crazy."

"Thank you for this, Aria, really," I said, smiling at her. "And now that we all know I'm not going anywhere, how about I get yours and Hanna's numbers?"

* * *

**You'll like the next couple of chapters :)**

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	21. Chapter 21

**A/N: Sorry this chapter is up a bit later than usual! On the upside, we've surpassed the number of reviews that this story was at when it was taken down, which blows me away! I am so grateful to all of you! Thank you all so much! And as that has happened, I will start giving out shoutouts for every fiftieth again.. Which means that 250 is next :D**

**HAPPY ONE DAY BELATED BIRTHDAY TO USER "Click here for awesomeness" ! THIS CHAPTER IS FOR YOU! HAPPY BIRTHDAY FROM ME! You're super awesome :) I know I didn't get you a double update for your birthday, but I've been super busy this weekend and I wasn't going to update at all until tomorrow, so this is really a present :)**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own PLL!**

**PLEASE enjoy, favorite, follow and REVIEW!**

* * *

"So, you two are all made up now, right?" Spencer asked the next morning, after I'd gone down to her and Ali's dorm.

"Yes," I answered, smiling. I was waiting for Ali to come back from the bathrooms. Spencer had let me in. "She explained all of the CeCe stuff to me, and we both apologized and stuff. We're spending Valentine's day together."

"So I heard," Spencer said, winking. I blushed and rolled my eyes. "By the way, Alison won't let me wash your jacket because she said it smells like you."

I tried not to smirk, because the door was opening. I looked up expectantly from Ali's bed, because I expected Ali to walk into the dorm. However, instead, I saw CeCe.

"Hey, lovelies!" CeCe exclaimed, and then her eyes caught on me. "Oh… hi, Emily. Where's Alison?"

"Bathroom," Spencer and I answered simultaneously.

"Emily, I just want to tell you how sorry I am…"

"Don't be," I insisted. "Ali and I are fine now. Maybe even stronger. Maybe I owe you a thank you."

CeCe smiled proudly. "I knew I was doing the right thing." I laughed as CeCe walked all the way into the room, closing the door behind her. "You two have plans today?"

"Not really," I answered. "I just… haven't _really_ seen her all week."

"I don't wanna crash your guys' day," CeCe said.

"No, it's fine," I insisted. "Maybe we could all do something."

Spencer shrugged. "I can't do anything. Got plans."

"With Aria?" I asked, trying not to smirk. Spencer glared at me, narrowing her eyes.

"What is with you and Ali?" she demanded.

"This is us not taking sides," I answered, chuckling. The door swung open and Ali walked in, her hair in its perfect curls.

Her eyes widened. "Hey, Em. Hey, CeCe. Are we having a dorm party that I forgot about?"

"I came down because I thought we could do something," I answered, smiling. "I thought maybe the three of us could do something," I revised, nodding toward CeCe.

"Sure," Ali agreed, nodding slowly.

"Don't worry, I already apologized," CeCe told the other blonde, smiling tightly. Ali physically relaxed a little.

"Okay, what do you two want to do today then?" Ali asked, coming away from the door and to sit next to me on her bed. She was asking me and CeCe, but she just looked at me, smiling.

"I don't care. After last week, I would be fine with anything," I answered, laughing lightly.

"How about we go on a shopping spree?" CeCe suggested. "I mean, Rosewood is small, but you've got some killer clothing boutiques here. I've seen a ton of them."

Ali grinned at CeCe and then looked back at me, like she was waiting for my agreement, which she probably was. "Why not?" I said, shrugging.

"Are you coming, Spence?" Ali asked, standing up.

Standing up as well, I answered for Ali's best friend, "No, she's going to be busy with Aria."

Alison snorted. "Really busy."

"Would you two just get out of here?" Spencer growled, rolling her eyes. Ali laughed, grabbing her purse.

"Let's go!"

We took one car—Ali's—and I was grateful that CeCe volunteered to sit in the back. I was pretty sure that she still felt really bad about what she said to me the previous week. I was doing my best not to hold it against her.

We went to the Rosewood Mall first, and Ali directed us to the biggest, fanciest clothing store there. I felt a little out of place, since I wasn't the fanciest person, but Ali kept hold of my hand as we walked into the store, so I wasn't complaining.

CeCe took up the lead as we entered the store, and we ended up looking at a bunch of blouses that reminded me of Ali, probably because she shopped there a lot.

To my disappointment, Ali released my hand to start looking at clothes. I looked around some, but I wasn't accustomed to buying clothes just because I _wanted_ new clothes.

"Hey, Em," Alison piped up, "this would look amazing on you." She was holding up a loose, black top. I flashed her a smile and she lowered the top and tilted her head at me. "Em, if you don't want to shop, we can do something else."

"No, I'm fine. I just… don't think I'm going to buy anything here," I told her, shrugging. Ali gave me a helpless look, like she wanted to stay and shop, but she didn't want me to be bored. "Seriously, I told you, as long as I'm with you, I'm okay."

"Ali! You have to try this on!" CeCe exclaimed from a few racks down, holding up a white top.

"No thanks, I think I own all the white tops I need," Ali refused, shaking her head.

"I think it would look good on you," I told her, smirking a little bit, because she and I both knew what we were thinking about regarding white tops. Ali quirked an eyebrow up at me, and I gave her a sly look. Her cheeks turned pink and she looked back at CeCe.

"Fine, I'll try it on."

Ali disappeared to the dressing rooms, and CeCe dragged me over a few sections to look at jeans. As I looked through them, having no intentions of purchasing any of them, I realized something that I hadn't yet realized. Ever since Ali and I had made up the previous day, I hadn't once felt awkward or nervous around her. It was an amazing feeling, and I was actually really grateful for it. To me, it felt like we had taken a big step in our relationship, and that made me feel really happy.

Ali texted us when she had the top on, and we went over to the dressing rooms to see her in it. It really was hot on her.

"You have to get it," CeCe stated.

"It looks awesome," I told her, and she met my eyes, smiling a sweet smile.

"I'll get it," she decided, and then she went back into the dressing room.

CeCe decided that she wanted to go look at shoes at a different store, so we stopped by the checkout so that Ali could pay for her top, and then we left that store. As we walked through the mall, and Ali had her hand wrapped in mine again, my eyes caught on the Victoria's Secret store as we passed it.

As we were approaching the shoe place, I pulled my hand out of Ali's. "I'm going to run to the bathroom."

"Okay," Ali said, smiling at me. I returned the smile, and then turned back, heading to the bathrooms. I glanced behind me and saw Alison and CeCe disappear into the shoe place. Letting out a small breath, I turned away from the bathrooms and went toward Victoria's Secret.

Inside, I took a deep breath. I had like five minutes max to find something super sexy to wear for Valentine's day. My eyes traveled around the store, and I immediately went to work to find something.

If I was being honest, I hadn't ever shopped for lingerie before. Luckily, it didn't prove to be much of a challenge. I found some black, somewhat lacy stuff that I decided was perfect, bought it, and then stuffed it into the bottom of my purse. I couldn't walk into that shoe store with a bag from Victoria's Secret, because it would ruin the surprise.

Once the lingerie was safely hidden in my purse, I hurried back over to the shoe store. I was pretty sure that I hadn't taken an awkwardly long amount of time, but I didn't want to rain any suspicions. Fortunately, I didn't.

"Em," Ali called when she saw me, "do you think these are cute?" She was holding a pair of pink heels.

"Yeah," I answered, smiling. She flashed me a smile and then seemed to decide that she was going to get them.

A few hours later, we pulled up to the motel place that CeCe was staying at while she was in Rosewood, so that she could drop off all of the stuff that she'd bought. She hopped out of Ali's car to do that, and me and Ali stayed in it.

"CeCe's pretty cool," I told Ali, smiling.

"She's really sweet once you get to know her. Well, and she's kind of a bitch sometimes, but she's a good friend," Ali admitted. "I'm going to drop her off at the airport tomorrow morning, but then I'm yours for the rest of the day."

"Good," I said quietly, before leaning across the center consol to grab her lips with mine. Whether she was expecting it or not, she immediately kissed me back forcefully. Her hand came up and tangled into my hair, but before our kiss could get any deeper, someone banged on the hood of the car. We jumped apart as CeCe got back in.

"Geez, you two need to take a cold shower," CeCe decided, smirking. Her eyes widened a little, and then she added, "Separately."

I tried not to smirk as Ali's cheeks turned pink and she pulled out of parking spot we'd been in. We decided to go back to the dorms and just hang out for a while, mostly because Ali felt really bad that I hadn't bought anything—or so she thought—and she figured that I wouldn't want to just stand around and watch them shop anymore.

CeCe told us about her life in Georgia as we drove, repeatedly adding that next time, Ali had to go there to visit her instead of the other way around.

We got back to the dorms and went up to Ali's. Spencer and Aria were both in there, sitting on Spencer's bed, and they were studying. They both looked up as the three of us walked in. "I guess we're having a dorm part _now_," Ali joked. Two people in a dorm was bad enough. Five people in a dorm, and it felt like the place had shrunk ten times smaller.

"Did you buy a lot of useless clothes?" Spencer asked.

"They're not useless when you're going to wear them, Spence," Ali stated, grabbing my hand and pulling me through the small dorm to her bed. "You know, we should really get a desk in here or something." I realized that CeCe didn't have anywhere to sit now.

"No point. We're both going to be out of this thing at the end of the semester," Spencer stated.

"If Ezra and I are still together by the end of the semester, I'm going to get him to let me move into him," Aria stated.

"And if not, then you can just move in with Spencer," Ali suggested, getting two glares from our best friends.

"You two are so persistent," Aria muttered, shaking her head.

I shrugged. "Well, in our defense, I haven't heard one thing about your guys' competition in English."

"I beat her on our last paper," Spencer stated proudly, but I shook my head.

"Doesn't count," I said, and Ali laughed, squeezing my hand. I had forgotten that she was holding it, but I liked the reminder.

"So how about an actual party?" CeCe suggested suddenly. "I mean, I don't really know you all that well, except for Ali of course."

"I'm game," Spencer answered, nodding.

"Sure, we can call Hanna, too," Aria suggested. "She's been working most of the day, but I think she should be done soon."

"All we have are the dorms and your tiny motel, though," Ali reminded CeCe.

"Let's go out. Come on, we can have some drinks and dance. We're all twenty-one, right?" CeCe looked around the room challenging.

"Yeah, we are," I answered, shrugging. "I don't mind going out again."

"Looks like we have a plan, then," Ali stated, smiling at me. I smiled back, and she leaned into me.

Aria grabbed her phone to call Hanna, and then we decided that we should probably go up and change into something more suitable for going out. "We'll see you all in a bit?"

"Sure, and we should probably all go eat dinner before we go out, too," Ali answered, nodding.

"Sounds good," Aria and I said simultaneously, and then I added, "I'll text you, Ali."

As soon a we were back in our dorm, I dug through my purse to retrieve the black bra and underwear that I had bought from Victoria's Secret, and quickly stuffed them into my dresser, but Aria totally caught me.

"Was that lingerie?" Aria asked, raising her eyebrows at me.

"U-uh—"

"Why was it stuffed in your purse? Did you steal it?" Aria teased. I could tell by the way she was looking at me that she knew perfectly well why I'd been hiding it in my purse.

"I bought it," I snapped anyway, "for tomorrow."

Aria laughed at me and shook her head, before starting to go through her dresser for party wear options.

Hanna came up to our dorm with three clothing options before twenty minutes had passed. "Which one?" she demanded. One of them was a short, hot pink dress that screamed high school. Another was simple, black and white, and it was a little longer with a ruffle on one side. The last option was a blue tube dress, and Aria and I immediately pointed to that one.

Aria wore one of her signature black dresses that no one would ever be able to copy, and I decided on just a simple black dress. It was pretty hot in my opinion, and as I checked myself out, I wondered if Ali would like it. Then I wondered what Ali would be wearing, and I felt my skin heating up.

I texted Ali when we were all ready, and she said that we were going to eat at the Grille before going to the club, and since there were six of us, we split up into two cars, three of us in each. That left me with my best friends, and Ali with her best friends.

Dinner was uneventful. The six of us talked to each other a lot, and it was weird how comfortable we all seemed together. Especially the five of us that lived in Rosewood. We all sort of clicked. Maybe it was partly because we all seemed to like to mess around with one another in a friendly way. All I knew was that it was nice to have this group. It felt special.

"Is everyone done?" CeCe asked us once we'd finished dinner. We all nodded collectively, and CeCe raised her eyebrows. "So what are we still doing here? Come on! I want to party before I leave tomorrow!"

We walked to the club, because it wasn't far away from the Grille, and immediately I felt a little nervous. These places totally weren't my scene. The only reason I'd even gone for Ali's party was because of… well, Ali.

When Alison grabbed my hand, though, I completely forgot about where we were and focused on who was here with me. That was a lot easier to do anyway. "Let's get something to drink," Aria suggested.

We all moved over to the bar, and Ali looked at me sweetly. "What do you want to drink, babe?"

I felt heat rise to my cheeks as I raised an eyebrow. "Did you just call me babe?"

"Yes," Ali answered, and then her eyes widened a little bit. "That's okay, right?"

"It's perfect," I answered with a light laugh, glad that none of our friends seemed to be paying any attention to us.

Ali bit her bottom lip. "Okay, so what do you want to drink?"

"I don't know," I answered, shrugging. Ali laughed, rolling her eyes, and then she turned to the bartender and ordered two drinks that I didn't recognize the name of. A minute later, two fruity looking drinks were slid across the counter to us.

"Here," Ali said, handing me my glass and winking at me. "But remember, more than one of those will have you hammered."

I quirked an eyebrow up at her, and felt my lips turn up into a smile, as I took a sip of the drink. Yep, it was the same thing she ordered for me on her birthday.

"Ooh, what's that?" Hanna asked, looking at our drinks.

"What's that?" Ali asked in response, gesturing to Hanna's drink. Hanna just shrugged and took a drink of it. I tried not to laugh at her. She didn't drink often, but when she did, Hanna went sort of overboard.

I turned around to look at Aria, who was talking to CeCe and Spencer, "Hey, we all need to keep an eye on Hanna tonight, okay?"

"Hey, I'm going to be fine," Hanna snapped from the other side of me.

"Han, the last time we came here, you were wasted in like fifteen minutes," Aria reminded her.

"Okay, but this is just vodka and soda," Hanna argued, shaking her head. "Come on, let's dance."

As Hanna started for the dance floor, we all followed her. A new song came on, and we immediately all started jumping around and dancing. Ali kept flashing me huge smiles, and it didn't take me long to realize that I was really happy right now. With Ali, with my friends. With my relationship not in ruins, and feeling completely comfortable with it.

Two fruity drinks later, and I knew that I was drunk. I wasn't sure if Ali had had as much to drink as me, but I knew that Hanna, CeCe, Spencer and I were totally hammered.

I wasn't sure how late it was or how much I'd actually had to drink when Ali brought me away from the dance floor and sat me down somewhere. I blinked a few times, trying to figure out what exactly was going on. Suddenly, I felt Ali hand me something.

I must've given her a confused look, because she explained with, "It's water, Em." She was laughing, and I suddenly felt a little weird. Was I totally acting stupid?

I drank some of the water, but it didn't help much. I saw the rest of my friends come up to us, but I didn't hear what they said. I just saw Ali nodding to someone, and then she was helping me stand up.

The next thing I knew, I was waking up on a bed that I was sure wasn't mine. I groaned, sitting up a little bit. Immediately, though, my head was searing. Groaning again, I fell backwards onto the pillow. Suddenly, I felt the very edge of the bed sink a little bit under some weight, and I forced my eyes open. The lights were killing me, but I easily made out Ali's beautiful face looking down at me.

"Here," she said softly, and I realized that she was holding an aspirin and a water bottle. I sat up, this time making sure that I didn't fall back onto the pillow, and took the things from her. I took the painkiller and then downed the rest of the water.

Ali chuckled at me, and I looked around. "Why am I in your dorm?" I croaked out, blinking.

"Everyone was plastered last night, except for me and Aria. Hanna and Spencer were clinging to her like crazy, so they're all piled up in your dorm. CeCe managed to sober up enough for me to drop her off at her motel without her doing something stupid. That left you, and I wasn't going to dump you with those losers," she told me playfully, brushing some hair out of my face. "Do you feel okay?"

"I think my pride is hurt a little more than my head," I admitted, cringing. "Was I acting totally stupid?"

"I thought you were adorable," Ali admitted, taking the empty water bottle from me and setting it down on her side table.

"Ugh," I groaned, putting my hands over my eyes.

"I did warn you about those drinks. One is great for a buzz, but…" She nudged me playfully. "Don't worry. You should've seen Hanna. She was way worse than you. Spencer, too, which was a surprise."

"They were?" I asked, twisting my face into a doubtful expression. Ali smiled sweetly at me and nodded. She leaned forward and gave me a soft kiss.

"Happy Valentine's day, by the way," she whispered as soon as she pulled away from me. "I have to bring CeCe to the airport in about an hour, but after that, we can go to that hotel in Philly and you'll have me all to yourself."

"Mm, I can't wait," I said, before pulling Alison closer to me for another kiss. When we separated, she smiled again.

"I'm really glad we made up, Em. I don't know what I would do without you," Ali admitted. "You're the first person that I don't feel afraid to be myself with."

"What about Spencer? CeCe?' I asked.

"I'm always afraid, Em. I was even afraid with you. But now, I don't feel even a little scared," the blonde admitted, lowering her gaze. It rose up again to meet mine, and she smiled. "Not even a tiny bit nervous."

"So I don't make you nervous anymore?" I asked, raising a playful eyebrow.

"Do I make _you_ nervous anymore?" Ali countered, like she knew what I was going to answer with. I smiled widely and shook my head. She leaned back a little bit, looking content. "By the way, I took off your makeup last night and I sort of changed you out of her dress."

I looked down at myself, realizing that I was wearing sweats and a tank. I didn't recognize them, so I assumed that they were Ali's. "Thank you," I said, smiling up at her. "For taking such good care of me."

"What are girlfriends for?" Ali asked playfully, stealing another kiss from me. "Come on. We should probably make sure _those_ three are awake upstairs."

"Didn't you say that Aria was sober?" I asked.

"Yeah, but we all went to bed really late," Ali answered, standing up. "Do you feel okay enough to stand?"

I thought for a minute, and then shook my head. "I need another kiss before I can do any standing," I stated, looking up at Alison with a completely serious face. She tilted her head at me, giving me a look that asked if I was serious. I just shrugged, and she laughed, leaning down and giving me another peck on the lips.

"Come on," she said, grabbing my hands and pulling me up to my feet. "Let's go make sure our friends are alive."

* * *

**Next chapter is Emison Valentine's Day :)**

**Likee? Lovee? Hatee? Please let me know in a review or a PM! Also, please follow me on Twitter at BrittzandTana ! Tweet me that you read this and I'll follow you back!**

**My first day back at school is tomorrow, so I have to go shower and make sure I have everything ready for tomorrow, and I'll be going to sleep in like an hour, so I don't have much time to chat!**

**Goodnight lovelies! Please review c:**


	22. Chapter 22

**A/N: So first of all, sorry for the delay. If you follow me on Twitter, you'll know that I've been swamped with school and shit, and I am so exhausted, even right now. Agh.**

**Shoutout to reviewer 250! That was user Drea82581 ! Thank you all for reviewing! We're getting to 300 lovelies! *hearts*  
**

**On a different note, on Twitter a while ago, I said that I could basically pair a different Katy Perry song to like every one of my fanfics, and I said that I would give shoutouts to anyone who could guess which one this is (I gave the hint it's from Prism)... and this is the chapter where I give it away... Shoutout to Twitter user at lovatichamira ! You're the only one who guessed and you got it right! good job haha xP**

**Anyway, the song is Unconditionally :) If you haven't heard it, hear it. More specifically, listen to it while you read this chapter :)**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own PLL!**

**PLEASE enjoy, favorite, follow and REVIEW!**

* * *

I tiptoed over where Hanna was sprawled across the floor to my bed, where Aria had crashed. She had probably only gone to sleep there because Spencer was totally passed out on her bed.

"Aria?" I prompted, poking her. She groaned and tried to roll away from me, which got her a one way ticket onto the floor and right on top of Hanna.

"What the hell?" Hanna exclaimed in a hung over, sleepy sounding voice. "Get the hell off of me!"

I was doing my best not to laugh as Hanna tried to push a half asleep Aria off of her. I glanced at Ali, and saw her carefully pulling the pillow out from under Spencer's head. Once she had it out, she whacked Spencer with it.

"What the heck?" Spencer snapped awake, looking up at Ali with a glare.

"Rise and shine," Ali said sweetly, and I did my best not to laugh.

"What time is it?" Aria demanded as she pulled herself up off of the floor.

I shrugged and looked to Ali. "It's like nine."

"Shit," Hanna cursed, "where the hell am I?"

"Our dorm," I answered, laughing and sitting on my bed. "Or the floor of our dorm, to be precise."

"Why the hell didn't you guys bring me back to my room?" Hanna demanded.

"Hey, don't look at me. I was almost as plastered as you," I admitted, shrugging.

"You wouldn't let go of Aria," Ali stated, "so I claim no responsibility."

Aria huffed, shaking her head. "I was going to drop you off, but your roommate probably would've murdered you, or maybe me. So I just decided that you could crash up here."

"Okay, why am I up here?" Spencer asked, wiping the sleep out of her eyes as she sat up. "And does anyone have any water?"

"You wouldn't stop clinging to Aria either," Alison stated, poking her best friend. "There are water bottles in our dorm downstairs."

"Why didn't you bring them up?" Spencer demanded.

"Hey, like I said, you were clinging to _Aria_. I claim responsibility for CeCe, who I dropped of at her motel, and Em," Ali stated, winking at me. I blushed and smiled at her.

Aria sighed. "Next time, someone else is going to be designated driver."

"Aria, you designated yourself driver," Hanna snapped.

"Maybe we can take a cab next time," I suggested, shrugging.

"I have to leave to pick up CeCe soon, so I'm going to run back down to finish getting ready," Ali decided, smiling across the room at me. "I'll see you later, Em."

"Yes you will," I agreed.

"Take Spencer with you, please," Aria said, tilted her head to the side as if trying to get a crick out of her neck. Ali laughed, grabbing Spencer's arm and pulling her up off of Aria's bed and out of the dorm.

"Please tell me that you two have aspirin in here," Hanna groaned.

At noon, I got a text from my girlfriend.

**From Ali- Maybe we can go for lunch, and then we can go to Philly?**

**To Ali- Sounds perfect. The Grille?**

**From Ali- Yeah. You drive?**

**To Ali- See you downstairs! Xx**

I had actually been sitting in my dorm completely ready to go for an hour, since I hadn't been sure when Ali was going to be ready. All I had to do was grab my purse—which was a little fuller than usual, because I had put some necessities in it for our overnighter at the hotel—and head down to the first floor.

Ali was already down there waiting for me. "Hey," she said as soon as she saw me, a smile appearing on her face.

I couldn't fight my own smile as I approached her. "Hey," I returned. "All ready to get away from this place for a night?"

"Trust me," Ali said, scoffing, "I'm so ready. I'm pretty sure that Spencer and Aria were walking in on us on purpose."

We grabbed a quick lunch at the Grille, and it wasn't particularly eventful until we were leaving and walking back to my car. Ali had her hand clasped with mine, and I was asking what class it was that Ali would have to miss tomorrow, when someone suddenly called to us from behind us. "Hey, Emily, how did you manage to turn Alison?"

Ali and I both stopped walking and immediately flashed glares at the guy who had yelled the question: Noel Kahn. He had gone to Rosewood High, and the only reason he knew my name was because he'd dated Aria when we were sophomores. And he knew Ail because… everyone knew Ali. "Shut the hell up, Noel!" came Ali's quick reply.

"Hey, I'm just asking. I couldn't even get you to go out with me once. Are you like completely lesbian now? Everyone's been dying to know since the first person saw you two together," Noel stated, looking at Ali pointedly as if she were actually going to tell him anything.

"Can't you mind your own business?" I snapped at him. Even though I didn't sound nice at all, I couldn't help but notice that I didn't sound near as mean as Alison when she was being bitchy.

"Yeah, what are you, the press?" Ali snarled. "Look, if I were going to tell anyone about my personal life, trust me, you wouldn't be the first to know."

She squeezed my hand tighter and pulled me toward my car. I heard Noel snort and just walk away. "Ali—"

"I'm okay," she snapped, and then she shook her head immediately. "Sorry. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap at you."

"It's fine," I answered, shaking my head slightly. "Are you really okay?"

"Noel is just an asshole," Ali decided, before sighing out a deep breath and nodding. "I'm okay. Let's go. The sooner we get to Philly, the better." I squeezed her hand one more time, and then we were off to Philadelphia.

We talked throughout the entire car ride, forgetting about Noel in a matter of minutes, and I could tell that Ali was just as excited for this as I was. After all the drama of last week, it was nice to have us both feeling comfortable with each other. Even more comfortable than before we started fighting. It felt like after the shit that had gone down, we were more trusting in one another.

We got to Philly at around two-thirty, and decided to just go straight to the hotel. Both of us seemed to have had enough of external factors, such as people, getting between us.

We gave our information to the front desk of the hotel, and they gave us a card for a room on the sixth floor.

Once we got there, I unceremoniously collapsed onto the huge king size bed. "I hate driving," I commented.

"I can drive us back tomorrow," Ali suggested, flopping down onto the bed next to me. It was weird to be on a bed that was bigger than a twin, especially with Ali.

"Okay," I agreed. I rolled onto my side and propped myself on my elbow, looking at Ali. "What should we do for Valentine's day? We have all afternoon… and all night."

"We should watch some really cheesy romantic movie," Ali said, wrinkling her nose at me. She hadn't ever done that before, and I found it so insanely cute.

I knew that I was blushing, but I just sat up and found the remote for the big TV in the hotel room. We trolled the TV for a cheesy romantic, and finally we found one. I was surprised at how easily we cuddled into one another on the bed to watch it. Ali was leaning her head against my shoulder, and we really were cuddled all together.

After the movie was over, Ali pulled away from me to turn off the TV, and then she sat facing me on the bed. "I think we should talk."

I agreed, because we did need to talk about everything. We hadn't had much of a chance on Friday. "Yeah. Should we… talk about earlier?"

"What? The thing with Noel?" she asked, and I nodded. She sighed. "It doesn't bother me that people know I'm dating you, a girl. I just don't see why everyone has to make a big deal about it."

"Do you think a lot of people will?" I asked, my voice small.

Ali shrugged, looking up at the ceiling. "I don't know." She looked back at me. "There are a lot of people who keep up to tabs with my life, and they can't all be open minded."

She looked like she was going to say something else, so I stayed silent.

Turns out, I was right. "And, I can deal with all of them. I don't care what they think of me… Or well, I do, but I care about you more than I care about that. It's just… like when Noel stopped us earlier… I kind of turn into a bitch, and I don't want you to see me being a bitch."

"Ali—" I started slowly.

"Look, like I told you on Friday, I really _want_ to be nice like you all of the time, but I'm just not that person. It's easy to be nice to you, and it's easy to be nice to my friends, but it's just…" She sighed, shaking her head as she averted her eyes from mine.

"Alison, I know that you're not some saint," I stated, shaking my head. "I mean, nobody is perfect, and I don't want you to be perfect."

Ali frowned. "I know but… I want to be perfect _for you_. That's why I don't want you to see me when I'm mad."

"You're not going to scare me away, Ali," I argued.

"How do you know?" Ali asked. "You _hated_ me a month ago, Em. You hated me last week!"

"No, I didn't," I argued, shaking my head. "I didn't know you a month ago, and I didn't hate you last week. I was scared."

"Emily, you still don't know me," Ali insisted.

"Then _let me_ know you," I interrupted before she could add anything else. "Ali, come on. You're not just going to scare me— I won't let that happen. It almost happened last week, and I'm not going to be careless like that again. I want to really know you."

Ali looked at me carefully, and then she sighed. "You're right. Sorry. I'm just so worried that I'm going to do something to mess this up."

"Hello, I already tried that," I joked, grabbing her hand. "Look, everyone gets mad and everyone gets mad in different ways. I don't expect you to be nice to everyone."

"Good, because everyone is a lot of people," Ali said, chuckling and smiling at me.

"Do you want to go somewhere to get dinner?" I asked her, but she shook her head.

"I'm not hungry. But if you are, we can go somewhere," Ali answered, shrugging. I shook my head, because I wasn't really that hungry either. I just wanted to spend time with my girlfriend. Honestly, I felt really bad about the previous week. I was being naïve and scared and I had almost ruined what we had. Now, I really wanted to make up for that.

Ali must've noticed me thinking hard about something, because she tugged on my hand a little bit. "Are you okay?"

I looked up at her. "You forgive me for last week, right? I was being stupid…"

"I forgave you already, babe," Ali reminded me, reaching forward and brushing some hair out of my face. "I wouldn't be here if we weren't okay."

I took a deep breath and felt a smile appear on my face. "I just… I was being really naïve and—"

"Emily, you don't have to keep apologizing, okay? We're good now. We've addressed the fact that I used to be really bitchy and that I still am kind of bitchy. We've addressed the fact that I have sort a rocky track record with relationships, friends and up. We've addressed the fact that you lost trust in me relatively quickly. We're ready to move on, okay? Together," Ali finished, smiling at me.

I nodded, smiling back. "Okay," I agreed. Deciding that since neither of us wanted to go get dinner, and we had just talked, I leaned forward and pressed my lips to hers carefully. She immediately began to kiss me back, softly at first. Our lips fit together perfectly, moving together in a synchronized rhythm. Slowly, though, the kiss became faster, harder. Our tongues lashed out against one another, twisting and dancing together in different rhythms.

Ali started to push me backwards against the pillows, but I stopped her, instead turned us slightly and pushing her back. Still feeling terrible for last week, I decided the least I could do was make her feel amazing.

Neither of us had to ask if this is what we wanted, we could just tell. This felt different than every time before—when there had still been a layer of tension between us. It was gone. We were completely open with each other now. I was going to get to see into her and discovery who she really was, and she could going to do the same to me.

Ali's hands slid up my back, under my shirt, and the fabric followed her, until it was halfway up my back. She finally just gripped the thing, pulling it up. I had to pull away from her so that she could tear it off of my completely. She must've noticed that the black, lacy bra I was wearing had been bought specifically for this. "When did you get this?" she asked me in a quiet voice.

"Yesterday," I answered, smirking a little bit, and then I lowered my lips back onto hers. I felt her bite down a little on my lip, and I moaned slightly. I didn't want this to go to fast, but I was slowly wanting more and more to touch her.

My hands went to the bottom hem of her shirt, and I carefully pulled it up. We had to pull apart and she had to sit up from the bed a little to pull it up and over her head. She was wearing a regular bra, but I didn't really care what she was wearing, because it was probably going to be gone soon anyway.

Ali grabbed my lips in her own, and I felt her fumbling with my bra strap at the same time as I expertly unhooked hers. What could I say? I did have experience.

As soon as both of those undergarments were gone, Ali and I took a moment to look at each other. I felt really exposed, and I was sure that my face was bright red, but it couldn't be as red as Ali's was. She almost looked scared, and when I noticed, my forehead creased a little. I reached down, brushing a bit of hair out of her face. "You're beautiful," I told her.

"No I'm not. At least, not nearly as beautiful as you," Ali argued, meeting my eyes. I shook my head.

"No, you are," I promised, leaning down and stealing her lips again before she could argue. Our breasts brushed against each other, and I felt my nipples harden at the feeling. As I kissed her, sweetly and yet fiercely, my fingers felt for the button holding her pants tight. I unbuttoned them, but before I pulled them off her, I gave her a look that asked her if she was sure. Because seeing her so insecure made me realize that she was probably a lot more nervous for this than I was. Though her face was still really flushed, she nodded at me, before pulling our lips together again. Mine were feeling swollen by now, but I could care less.

I started pulling down her pants, and she helped by wiggling out of them and then kicking them away. I moved my lips away from hers, peppering light kissing along her jaw and down to her neck, where I stopped to kiss gently as my fingers started down to her underwear. I carefully pulled it off of her, and then I carefully pressed my fingers against her.

Her gasp was immediate, and I could tell that she hadn't really expected it. I just gently sucked at her neck as I carefully touched her, taking my time. As Ali started to breath more and more quickly, though, I decided to speed it up a little bit. Soon, she moaned and climaxed loudly, and as she started to come down, I pulled my fingers away from her core.

My lips weren't on her neck anymore, and I was laying next to her, with our legs tangled together, propped up on my elbow and looking at her down. "That was…" She didn't finish talking, and I couldn't help the smirk that crossed over my face. It quickly disappeared though, and I just smiled at Ali. Once she was breathing normally, she looked at me. "I don't think I can… make you feel that good."

Honestly, I could care less what happened to me tonight. I wanted Ali to feel good, and clearly, I had carried that out perfectly. "You don't have to do anything, babe." That was the first time I'd called her babe, and I saw it make her breath hitch in her throat. I leant down and kissed her softly.

"You're too good for me," Ali stated, pulling me completely down to curl up next to me.

"No, I'm not," I argued, wrapping my arms around her. Our skin was pressed together in every place, except for the fact that I was still wearing shorts. It felt really good. "Why are you so insecure, Ali?"

Ali just shook her head. "I don't know." I was a little doubtful that she had no idea why she was so insecure, but I wasn't going to make her talk about it. Not right now. "Maybe when I'm less tired," she mumbled, making me realize just how tired I had made her, "I can try to make you feel this good."

"Okay," I agreed, cuddling into her and pulling the blankets of the bed completely over our bodies. This felt good, it felt right. I knew that I wasn't going to do something to mess it up ever again.

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**Most of you all have read my stuff before, but if you haven't, you know that when I say "M for Mild Sex" I mean like that ^ I know how sex works and everything, but I don't pretend to have any real experience with it lol. . I've never even kissed anyone, and you're all lucky that you get anything ;) Anyway, if you're here for smut, you're obvs in the wrong place lol.**

**Like? Love? Hate? Please let me know in a review! Also, please follow me on Twitter at BrittzandTana ! Tweet me that you read this, and I'll follow you back!**

**Now, I need to finish my stupid homework so that I can finally sleep lol. Goodnight lovelies! Please review!**


	23. Chapter 23

**A/N: UPDATE UPDATE! :D I survived my first week back at school, so I've been writing vigorously to get this up for you all :) I hope that maybe we'll reach 300 reviews soon... remember 300th reviewer gets a shoutout lovelies!**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own PLL!**

**PLEASE enjoy, favorite, follow and REVIEW!**

**(Not rereading so all mistakes are mine)**

* * *

I woke up the next morning, completely naked and curled against Alison. I hadn't slept at first, but Ali had dozed in and out of sleep, and then out of nowhere, she had decided that she was awake enough to touch me, and for a first time, it was pretty amazing.

An "mm" sound escaped my lips as I shifted slightly. The sleeping blonde next to me let out a breath, but I could tell that she was still asleep. I leaned away from her a little bit, so that I could see her sleeping face. Her features were just as perfect as when she was awake.

A million thoughts were racing through my mind right now, including the fact that I was pretty sure the class I was missing at the moment actually had some important lesson today. I quickly shrugged that thought off, though, instead deciding to be content with just staring at Ali.

I moved my hand up to Ali's hair, gently raking my fingers through it. It was incredibly soft, and that still amazed me. How did hair get so soft like that? "Mm," Ali's lips vibrated softly, and her eyes flickered open to look up at my face. I felt myself blush a little, because I'd been caught running my fingers through her hair, but she just smiled at me. "Morning." Her morning voice was the cutest thing I had ever heard.

"Good morning," I answered, pulling my hand out of her hair. Ali pouted at me, and I was pretty sure that was the first time she'd ever done that. It was probably one of the cutest thing that I had ever seen.

"Why'd you stop?" she asked, and I laughed lightly at her. I started my fingers through her hair again. She hummed contently, getting me to smile. "Do you know what time it is?"

I shook my head.

"Okay, don't check," Ali said, "I don't wanna know."

"We can't lay here forever," I reminded her.

"No, but we can try," she countered, and then she leaned forward and pressed her lips to mine sweetly. Once she pulled away, she stated, "I'd love to just lay here forever with you."

"Me too," I agreed, before sighing a little bit. "But I have work this afternoon."

"So do I," Ali admitted. "Fine, let's check the time." She rolled over the bed, probably trying to locate her phone. She found it, and sighed. "Ten."

"I work at one," I told her, frowning. I knew that mean that we should get up now so that we could both shower and maybe grab something to eat on the way back to Rosewood.

Ali sighed. "Okay. But I call the shower first."

"Go for it," I said, smiling. She gave me a quick kiss, and then she pulled herself up off of the bed and immediately headed for the bathroom. I sighed, sitting up and leaning against the headboard. The night had been amazing, yes, but I just wished that it didn't have to end.

_AAA_

I drove us back to Rosewood in Emily's car, because I had told her the previous day that I would. We talked the whole time, just like the way into Philly. Not about anything specific really—we jumped around between random topics, like vacations we wanted to have one day and what our favorite parts of high school were. I liked that we could do that—we could talk about completely random things that had no real significance, and yet all of the significance in the world. It was one thing to know all of the big things about people, but the small things counted too.

The reason so many people thought that they knew me when they didn't was because they didn't know my small things. Not a lot of people did, and that's why it was important for Emily to know them. The lack of trust that had happened the previous week was a result of many things, but in my opinion, part of the problem was the fact that Emily hadn't really had a chance to look at the small things when it came to me. That was important, and I wasn't going to let either of us forget to share them again.

That's why it was so nice that we were both suddenly so comfortable with one another. Especially after the previous night—it was hard not to feel comfortable now that we had both seen each other in one of the most vulnerable positions that one could be in. Emily and I both knew that.

As we neared Rosewood, our conversation came to a brief pause, and Emily heaved a sigh. "What's wrong?" I asked her immediately.

"We probably won't see each other again until Friday," Emily reminded me, and a frown appeared on my face.

"You're right," I answered with a sigh. "It really sucks that we only really see each other on weekends." We were both silent for a moment, and then I bit down on my tongue really hard, trying to decide whether or not to say what I was thinking. Finally, I decided not to… yet. "Do you think you'll move out of the dorms after this year?"

"Probably not," Emily answered, sounding a little disappointed. "I don't think I'll have the money for it."

I chewed on my tongue again for a moment, something I used to do when I was really nervous, and that seemed to be coming back. I wanted to at least suggest what I was thinking to Emily, but I decided not to. It was definitely too soon, I decided.

"I don't know. If I can, I will. Dorms such are such a pain in the ass," Emily added, and I laughed in agreement.

We got back to the dorms, and Emily and I had to share a quick goodbye kiss. It was annoying to know that we likely wouldn't see each other again in person until Friday, but we would definitely text each other back and forth, and probably call each other too.

I went to my dorm to find that Spencer wasn't there. I changed and redid my makeup and hair, and started to get ready for my work. I didn't mind my new job—it was easier than a lot of jobs could be and it paid really well.

I went into work exactly when I was supposed to, and I was only there for about half of minute before someone I didn't want to see walked in after me. I narrowed my eyes at Noel Kahn as he sauntered over to me, looking like he had every right to be there to bother me.

"Hi, Alison," he greeted, in the voice that made me want to beat the crap out of him.

"Noel," I said simply in greeting.

"How was your Valentine's day?" he questioned.

"Fine," I answered. "How was yours? Did you spend it finding out where I work now?"

"Come on Alison, everything that happens to you is practically broadcasted to all of Rosewood, or at least to all of Hollis," Noel stated.

"Your point?" I snapped, feeling anger bubbling inside of me already. Whatever he came here for, it wasn't to ask about my new job or remind me that everyone knew things about me at the same time that I knew them.

"I'm just trying to figure out how, even though we always know everything that's ever happened to you, no one really knows what's going on with you and that Emily girl," Noel stated.

I gave Noel one of the smiles that I only gave out to people who I wanted to drop kick. "And you came here with the intentions of finding out? If I was going to open up my _personal_ life to anyone, you can trust that it wouldn't be you."

"Well, fine, I won't ask then," Noel said simply. I narrowed my eyes at him, immediately wondering what he had tucked up his sleeve. "But you know, I'm dating someone now. Mona."

Of course he was.

"She's not very happy with you right now, and I think you and I both know that you dating a girl is going to seriously hurt your reputation," Noel stated.

For half a second, that freaked me out, and then I realized that I couldn't let that get to me. Even if I loved my reputation, it didn't mean I was willing to keep it over my girlfriend and my new friends that came with her. "Mona doesn't have what it takes to replace me, Noel."

"Maybe not, but clearly, you aren't dating guys anymore. I have to get some credit somewhere," Noel stated.

"You mean you don't already get it from your devilish smile that girls seem to fawn over all of the time?" I retorted.

"Careful, Alison. You're standing on the last of your reputation. Soon, your rule over Hollis will end," Noel insisted.

"Careful, Noel," I snapped back, "you're standing on a fantasy."

Noel let out a laugh as he started out of the building. "Think what you want. My, how the mighty have fallen."

_EEE_

I was standing idly behind the checkout counter of the store, mindlessly tapping out a rhythm on the counter. Aria was in a class, with Spencer, and Hanna was in a different class. Ali was at work. I had no one to talk to right now, so I was being utterly bored.

I heard the door open and the click of heels, and I looked up to see the last person I would have ever expected to walk in. Mona Vanderwaal.

But she would never come here to shop. She came here to talk to me. About Ali. I just knew it.

"Mona," I said in a simple greeting as she stopped in front of the counter.

"Emily, right?" Mona asked. I narrowed my eyes and gave her a slight nod. "Good. I didn't want to get it wrong."

"What do you want?" I asked her.

"I'm sure you've heard the rumor that Alison DiLaurentis has gone completely lesbian," Mona said, and it was the stupidest thing I was sure I'd ever heard anyone say.

"No, I haven't," I answered, rolling my eyes.

"Of course you haven't," Mona said, giving me a look that almost looked like she was pitying me. "But I'm sure you know whether or not it's true. I think it would be better for everyone if you confirmed it for me."

"Mona, you're going to have to go to someone else with questions about Alison. Like, maybe, Alison herself," I suggested, giving her a tight smile.

"Emily—"

"Mona," I snapped, cutting her off. "Don't talk to me. We're not friends. I don't have to talk to you or anyone about Alison."

"Fine," Mona said, straightening up and giving me a pointed look. "I hope you'll at least remind her that so long as she continues to ignore me, the further down the social pyramid she'll sink. People have noticed that she hasn't been at as many parties and things lately."

"Go away, Mona," I practically growled. She gave me an innocent smile, and then she was gone. I clenched my teeth and shook my head. I didn't normally get really angry at people, but for some reason, I just wanted to claw that innocent smile off of Mona's face.

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**This chapter is basically introducing a problem that's been bound to happen from like the first second chapter lol. The Mona drama. I brought Noel into it because he's creepy as hell and yeah I wanted to.**

**Likee? Please let me know in a review! Also, please follow me on Twitter at BrittzandTana ! Tweet me that you read this and I'll follow you back! =D I love talking to you all on there!**

**My sister, brother in law, and two of my nephews are coming down this weekend, and on Sunday I'm going up to Houston for Comic Con =) Therefore, I may not be able to update again until Monday, but definitely Monday because of Labor Day, ya know :) Yay for three day weekends!**

**We had a pep rally at my school today, and the theme was mustaches (I go to a weird school) and one of the cute puns was like "I mustache you a question" hahaha it's so cute :3 haha yeah I wore my mustache necklace it was great :) Plus, they split my bus route into two different buses, so I get my own seat on the bus now! #whoopwhoop**

**Love you all! Goodnight! Please review!**


	24. Chapter 24

**A/N: UPDATE! 300th reviewer gets a shoutout! Starting to get less reviews and it's a little sad to me, but mostly just because I'm worried that the story is not as good anymore? Thoughts?**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own PLL!**

**PLEASE enjoy, favorite, follow and REVIEW!**

**All mistakes are mine!**

* * *

"Mona came to talk to me today," I told Ali through the phone as I laid sprawled across my bed. Aria was in the bathroom.

"I'm not surprised. She sent her new boy toy to talk to me. Noel," Ali admitted. "I'm going to guess they both said similar things. Questioned us about my sexuality, before reminding us that it's my reputation and social standing on the line."

"Exactly that," I answered, sighing slightly.

"She can suck it," Ali stated, sounding tired. "I'm so done with her and her bullshit. I was actually nice to her, you know? It's not everyday that I give someone the key to popularity, and it's not like she was giving me anything in return. I was on a nice streak, and now it's come to backfire."

"Mona has always been a very overly dynamic person," I backed her up, sighing.

Aria came back into the dorm and flashed me a smile, and I returned it as I listened to Ali on the other end of the line. "Yeah well, I wish she could be more dynamic and weird about something other than me. But I'm not going to give into her craziness. What she wants is for me to fight back, but I'm just going to sit here and let her do whatever she wants. I have more important things to think about."

"Oh yeah, like what?" I asked her, a small smile creeping onto my face.

"Just this gorgeous girl that I'm taking out on Friday," Ali answered, and I could practically see her eyebrows raising questioningly as she said the last part.

"What if this girl already has plans on Friday?" I teased. I felt Aria glancing at me repeatedly, which was making my cheeks burn redder than they would have if she wasn't there.

Ali hesitated. "Do you? Sorry, I—"

"No, Ali, I don't," I quickly interrupted, smiling widely at how cute my girlfriend was. "Though, Hanna might force us both to go to her movie night."

"Sounds good to me, but I get to have you all day before that," Ali agreed possessively.

"Deal," I said, laughing out a small laugh. "We should both probably get some sleep soon."

Ali sighed. "You're right. I'll call you tomorrow, okay?"

"Okay, bye, Ali," I said into the phone.

"Bye, Em!" The line ended, and I tossed my phone next to me on my bed, looking over at Aria, who smirked at me.

"What?" I asked defensively.

"How was your night in Philly?" she questioned, still smirking.

I narrowed my eyes slightly at my best friend. "It was amazing. Thanks again for that."

"Don't thank me, Em, that's what best friends are for," Aria reminded me, smiling. "You do know, Emily, that you're like my sister? You can tell me everything."

"I know," I answered, furrowing my eyebrows a little bit. Why was she reminding me of this?

"I was just thinking about how you kept Ali from me and Hanna, because you thought we would disapprove… and granted, we did at first… but I just would rather you tell me everything. I just thought about what it would feel like to not tell you something important like that…" Aria was frowning.

I smiled, and it wasn't at all forced. "Thanks, Aria. Really. I promise, I won't ever keep something like that from you again." Aria's face split into a smile.

I got up and went to the bathroom before I went to bed, and when I got back, I curled up into my blanket. I let my mind think of Ali and all of our encounters when we'd first met, and how I went to her birthday party.

And then it occurred to me that I hadn't ever gotten her a birthday present. It shouldn't have bothered me, considering that I'd barely known her at the time and I didn't even know how she was collecting any gifts, but it did bother me. Because now I was her girlfriend and I didn't just feel obligated to get her a gift—I really wanted to get her one.

So I was kept up even longer as I thought and thought about what to get Ali. I needed it by Friday, because that would probably be the next time I saw her face to face. I wanted it to be perfect.

I was busy Tuesday, but I managed to find time to go to the mall to find something perfect. I dragged Hanna with me, because she had a much better eye for shopping than I did. "What do you think she'll like?"

"I don't know," I answered, even though I had lots of ideas.

"Come on, Em, you're never going to find anything if you're not actually coming up with ideas," Hanna criticized.

"I have ideas," is all I said, and then I sighed, looking around us at the different stores in the mall. "Come on." I led Hanna around to multiple jewelry stores, because it seemed like that would be the best choice for any sort of present.

But it took three different stores before I found something that I felt was absolutely perfect. Hanna agreed that it was beautiful, and I bought it, despite it's pricey cost. I knew by one glance that it was perfect. Now, I just had to plan how to give it to her on Friday.

Naturally, I spent unreal amounts of time thinking about it, but Friday came faster than I'd expected. Of course, I wasn't disappointed.

**To Ali- Should we meet at noon?**

**From Ali- Sounds good! (: xx**

And my thoroughly thought out plan was put into motion. I got all dressed and ready for my day with Ali, and then I grabbed the little box that my gift was in. I smiled to myself, and headed down to Ali's floor. It was eleven-thirty.

Once I was outside Ali's door, I took my phone out again.

**To Ali- I have a surprise for you!**

**From Ali- Do you? :3**

**To Ali- Open up!**

I hardly had to wait half a second before the door swung open. "Hey! I thought we were meeting at noon?" she asked me, but the grin across her face let me know that she definitely wasn't upset that I was here early.

"Like I said, I have a surprise for you," I stated. "So, I realized that on your birthday, I didn't get you anything."

Ali rolled her eyes in a playful way. "Em, that was like a month ago. Don't worry about it."

"Too late," I said, biting my lip a little nervously and producing the little box from my purse. "And don't try to no accept it. I _wanted_ to get it for you. You don't have to count it as a birthday present if you don't want to."

Ali smiled sweetly at me, taking the box from me with one hand, and grabbing one of my hands with her other. She pulled me into her dorm. Spencer wasn't there, so it was just us. "Fine," she said in response to what I'd said, and then she opened up the little box.

Her eyes widened when she saw the necklace. "Emily, it's beautiful," she declared, pulling the necklace out of the box. The silver chain glistened in the light, and the red opal studded heart hanging from it reflected the light dimly as well. "What's the stone?"

"It's Garnet. That's January's birthstone, right?" I asked, smiling a small smile. Ali grinned at me and nodded.

"I love it, Emily. Thank you so much," she said, and then she stepped toward me and grabbed me in a soft hug. I melted into her arms and squeezed her in the embrace. When she pulled out of the hug, she unclasped the necklace and held it toward me. "Put it on for me?"

I nodded, taking both sides of the chain from her as she turned around and pulled her hair to one side to expose her neck. I inhaled, putting the necklace around her and clasping it carefully. "There," I said, once it was clasped.

Ali turned back toward me, and she immediately pulled me close for a kiss. It went from soft and slow to fierce in half of a second. Ali's teeth bit down on my lower lip, and I inadvertently let out a moan. She forced her tongue in between my lips, and suddenly I found myself against her door. It wasn't until her thigh inserted itself between mine that I realized how desperately I wanted her.

She must've been thinking similar thoughts, because her hands were suddenly at the rim of my shirt and pulling up. I stopped her though, and gently pushed her away from me to ask, "Spencer?"

"Class," Ali huffed out, before pressing her lips to mine again, taking up where she left off. Her hands practically tore off my shirt, and then I mimicked her and took off her shirt. Soon, we were both completely bare-chested, and although I still felt a little exposed about it, I felt comfortable with Ali.

I was a little surprised when I felt Ali's fingers fumbling with the button of my jeans, but I wanted her to touch me too much to object to anything at this point. She pulled away the top of my pants with my underwear simultaneously, and she pressed her fingers in between my legs. Clearly, she was no longer shy about this.

I gasped instantly as she touched me, and she disconnected her lips from mine, instead placing them against my bare neck, where she sucked on my skin as she drove me up to climax.

I came all of the sudden, and something like fatigue overcame my body as I slumped slightly against Ali. She pulled away from me a little bit, disconnecting her lips from my skin so that she could look at me. I was breathing heavily, and my pupils were probably blown. As soon as I could say anything, I asked her, "What, were you practicing all week or something?" It definitely had felt even better than Sunday.

"No," Ali answered, "but the dirty dreams I've been having about you all week might have something to do with it."

My eyes widened as Alison sent me a wink, and I just about died. "I don't want go to anywhere, now," I muttered, pulling up my underwear and my pants.

"We can stay in," Ali said, smiling sweetly at me.

"That sounds like a good idea," I agreed.

"Let me run to the bathroom real fast, and then we can order lunch in," Ali suggested, and I smiled, nodding as I stepped away from the door so that she could go to the bathroom.

Once she was out of the room, I let myself collapse onto her bed. Being with Ali had brought something out in me, but I couldn't tell what it was. I felt different. Braver maybe. Spontaneous. Ali had always seemed spontaneous to me, even when I hated her, it was something I'd noticed about her. Maybe she was rubbing off on me, and not just literally.

Ali came back into the room a few minutes later, and sat on Spencer's bed as she called in a pizza order. Once she was done, she looked at me laying on her bed. "Are you tired?" she asked me.

"Now I am," I answered, sighing. My eyelids did feel heavy.

"You can go to sleep. I'll wake you when the food gets here," Ali said, smiling.

"Mmk," I mumbled, but I was already falling asleep.

_AAA_

I looked at Emily's sleeping form and sighed happily. How was I so lucky to have found her? After everything I'd ever done, I didn't deserve her.

Feeling a little insecure at that thought, I bit my lip and shook my head. _She really likes you, Ali._

I inhaled sharply as I came to a realization. I didn't want Emily to really like me. I wanted her to love me. As I had come to love her. I had never imagined myself in love with anyone, let alone a girl. But now, I felt happier than ever and it was all because of Emily. The girl that I loved.

_I want her to love me, but I don't deserve her love_.

The thought ran through my mind more than a few times, and then I forced myself to think of the bad things that I had done to make me unworthy. I had single handedly forced at least six girls to transfer out of Rosewood Day when I went there, by threatening them and using their secrets against them. I had used at least four different guys, by dating them, for personal gain in the last four years. I had come up with horrible nicknames for about half of the people who went to Hollis, and I'd had one for everyone who went to Rosewood Day. I didn't apologize to people, even if I accidentally bumped into them. I sent people death glares. I ignored half of the population of Rosewood after deeming them losers.

I squeezed my eyes closed and took a deep breath as I felt tears building behind my eyelids. I really was a horrible person. I didn't deserve Emily, and Emily deserved someone a lot better than me.

I opened my eyes again and my eyes fell on my sleeping girlfriend. A few tears came out of my eyes against my will. I choked on a sob as well, and then I grabbed Spencer's pillow and stuffed my face into it to keep me from crying loudly.

I managed to stifle a few cries, and then I was okay again.

Unfortunately, Emily seemed to have not needed sleep as much as she thought she had, and she began to stir. My red eyes widened as I started to brush away the tears on my cheeks, but her eyes were already open and looking at me.

She immediately furrowed her eyebrows and sat up, a sleepy look on her face. "Ali, what's wrong?"

"Nothing, I'm fine," I insisted.

Emily shook her head. "You were crying." She reached across the gap between the two beds to grab my hand, and then she pulled it a little, and I got up and sat next to her on my own bed. "What's wrong?"

"Me," I answered in a small voice, very aware of the fact that I felt like I was going to start crying again. "I'm wrong."

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**OK don't get mad! I needed that little bit to lead up to the next chapter, which you will definitely all love :)**

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**I have to go out to dinner and I have like 5 secs to get ready lol so gotta go!**

**Have a great day lovelies! If we're lucky, another update tomorrow night :) Please review!**


	25. Chapter 25

**A/N: Not the longest chapter ever, but one of my faves so far :)**

**For those of you who have PM'd me recently and have received no response- I'm very sorry, I've been super busy and haven't been checking them every day like before. I'll get back to you all as soon as possible. As for today, I'm going to try to relax as much as possible. I have a horrid headache, and I just wanna lay down and sleep, ya know?**

**But first... I has a shoutout to give, mm? :D Soooo shoutout to user Rockinworld ! About time you got a shoutout, you're always leaving me amazing reviews and you deserve that shoutout! Thank you all for reviewing! You all brighten my day! Seriously, this story is about to surpass LMLY in reviews! Amazing- considering I lost so many after it got taken down!**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own PLL!**

**PLEASE enjoy, favorite, follow and REVIEW!**

* * *

"What are you talking about, Alison?"

"Emily, you deserve so much better than me," I told her, but she was already shaking her head. "And I don't deserve anyone as good as you."

"Don't talk like that," Emily pleaded.

"It's true, though," I argued. "You are nice and special and _perfect_ and I'm just…"

Emily shook her head again. "You're not _just_ anything, Ali."

"I'm a bitch," I stated. "I do bad things to good people for no reason."

I could practically see the struggle that Emily was going through in her mind. She knew that I was right, because I was right, but she didn't want to accept it. Finally, she sighed. "Alison, you've done a lot of bad things in your life. But I've already told you, I don't see bad when I look at you. I see all of the good things about you."

"Like what?" I asked, and I wasn't asking because I wanted attention. I legitimately had no idea what good things she saw in me.

"You're loyal. To me, to your friends. You don't like to let people see that you are, but I've seen it. You're also super sweet, and considerate," Emily listed. I shook my head, and she gave me a helpless look. Neither of us said anything for a moment, and then Emily collected herself. "Alison, here's the thing. All of your bad traits go away and turn into good ones whenever you have someone to be good for."

"So what, I'm bad except for when I'm with you?" I asked, even though I knew that Emily hadn't meant that all.

Emily narrowed her eyes at me just slightly as she grabbed my hands. "I'm saying that you've done a lot of bad things, but I've seen you do good things, too, and I don't believe in judging people for mistakes they've made that they're trying to correct."

"I'm still making mistakes, Em," I said, though I wasn't exactly sure why I was pushing this any further.

"Everyone is still making mistakes, Ali," Emily countered. "You don't have any reason to be so insecure anyway, babe. You're _perfect_ for me."

I gave Emily a hopeless look, and she pulled me toward her for a kiss. After the quick kiss, I searched her eyes and wondered if I should tell her what I'd just realized a few minutes earlier. My heart beat hard against my chest, telling me to do it, but my brain screamed not to. I had no idea what to do.

"Believe me, okay?" Emily whispered, brushing some hair out of my face. I nodded, smiling.

"I don't know how you see anything good in me, but I guess I'm not going to argue about it," I said with a slight chuckle. Emily smiled widely at me, and some of my stress washed away. Right now, all that mattered was Emily and me, here right now.

_EEE_

Our pizza arrived soon, and we ended up sprawling across the floor eating. We ended up studying as well, for a test that we both had coming up the following week.

In the back of my mind, though, I spent the afternoon trying to think of a way to prove to Ali that she was deserving of me. I couldn't think of anything specific, though. I hated that she was so insecure and didn't think very much of herself, but I didn't have a cure for that. Was there a cure for that?

I had to figure out how to make her love herself.

And then it hit me. Alison couldn't love herself, because she felt like nobody loved her.

Well, surely she knew that Spencer and CeCe loved her as their best friend, and as far as I knew, her parents loved her just fine. But four people couldn't amount to much in her mind when she knew that some people had huge support webs of people who loved them.

The world really wasn't much of a fair place, that much was for sure.

I found myself realizing that the first thing I could do to help Ali was to love her, but I wasn't sure that I was there yet. I was close, so close. I felt myself falling faster and faster every second, but it hadn't clicked in my mind that I was in love with her yet. And the worst thing I could do to her would be to say that I loved her when I really wasn't sure.

So I had to put that off, which meant that I couldn't properly help my girlfriend until I was sure.

So that was my new mission: become sure of my feelings for Ali.

It wasn't something that could be done in a day, though.

Ali and I spent the entire day in her dorm, talking, studying, eating pizza. It was the most natural the two of us had been with each other since we first started talking, and it made everything feel so real.

At six thirty, Hanna texted me.

**From Hanna- YOU BETTER BE HERE IN HALF AN HOUR FOR MOVIE NIGHT!**

**To Hanna- Only if I can bring a date ;P**

**From Hanna- Fine! Half an hour!**

"Do you want to go to Hanna's movie night with me?" I asked Ali suddenly, looking up from my phone at her. A smile appeared on her face as she nodded.

"Yes!"

Half an hour later, we were filing into Hanna's dorm room. Aria was there already, and she had supplied the popcorn this week. "Hey, Ali! Hey, Em!" she greeted us once we walked in.

"How was your class?" I asked her.

"Fine," Aria answered, shrugging. "I was out with Ezra earlier too."

"Oh yeah? What'd you two do?" I asked, spreading out some blankets on the floor for me and Alison.

"Nothing much. We just hung around his apartment," Aria answered, smiling. Hanna groaned.

"Meanwhile, I sat here going through the millions of movies in my collection and on Netflix for tonight," she grumbled.

"Oh!" Ali said suddenly, "If you're up for it, Hanna, I know a guy that you might like."

"You're going to set me up on a date?" Hanna asked, giving Alison a doubtful look. My girlfriend shrugged and pulled up a picture of the guy on her phone. Hanna's eyes widened a little bit. "He looks sketchy."

"He does, but he's cool," Ali admitted. "You'll like him."

"Okay, maybe," Hanna agreed, smiling. "Anyway! I finally managed to pick our movies tonight!"

I didn't even recognize the movies that Hanna had picked, but I didn't really care. Once we'd flipped off the lights and turned on the TV, we'd all stuck to our blanketed floor areas, and I was basically cuddled into Ali for the whole night. That in itself was already a billion times more comfortable than like, anything else, and I nearly fell asleep, so I wasn't really watching the movies at all.

Halfway through the second movie, I suddenly felt Ali's lips press softly to my neck. My entire body tingled with electricity at the feeling, and I trained my eyes on the TV in front of me to keep from acknowledging it with noise. She kissed my neck again, and I felt myself holding my breath.

Then Ali shifted a bit, and her leg rubbed against mine under our blankets as she kissed my neck again, a little lower on my collarbone this time. I found myself biting the inside of my lip as her tongue poked out of her mouth and dancing lightly across my skin.

Her arms were already wrapped around me from our cuddle position, so it wasn't hard for her to slid her hands up under my shirt to my abs. I finally released the breath I was holding, but I let it out slowly and nonchalantly. Ali was completely torturing me right now, and she knew it. "I have to go to the bathroom!" I squeaked suddenly, pulling away from Ali to get up off of our spot.

"But you're missing the best part of the movie!" Hanna complained.

"I have to pee," I lied, and then I was out of the room, down the hall, and in the bathroom. I looked at myself in the mirror and found my pupils slightly larger than normal, and my face was red.

Suddenly, the door behind me opened to reveal my girlfriend. "Hey," she said quietly. She came closer to me. "Sorry about that."

Maybe she thought I was mad at her, but I wasn't. I was just feeling really needy, even though she had pleased me earlier in the day. I glanced around the bathroom to make sure that there was no one in any of the stalls or showers. Once I was sure, I looked back at Ali. "Are there locks on these doors?"

Ali's eyes fell on the entrance to the bathroom, and sure enough, there was a lock there. For what reason, neither of us knew, but she leaned over and turned it, and then I practically jumped her.

She was against the wall, and both of our hands were everywhere, but I suddenly realized that while this did need to happen fast, I couldn't make it happen too fast.

I suddenly softened our kiss, and then moved my lips to her neck, and she tilted her head back instinctively. "You don't have to be sorry," I said against her skin, even though she had probably already figured that out, and then I kissed her neck softly.

At first, it sounded like Ali had something to say in response to that, but she just moaned out my name, "_Emily_."

My hands found the button on her jeans, and I carefully pulled them down, just enough to give me access to her core. She squirmed slightly, but in a way that told me to hurry up and touch her. But I had to say something first. "Wait, Ali."

Her eyes met mine, and I saw that her pupils were blown now as well. "Is everything okay?" she asked me, and I nodded.

"I have to… I want you to… to know," I started, not entirely sure what it was that I wanted Alison to know, "I know you don't think you deserve me, but you do. You deserve me and the entire world."

Ali titled her head slightly at me. "Em…"

And then it hit me, hard. I no longer had the sensation of falling that I often did when I was with Alison—and I could tell because I'd gotten so used to feeling like that. Now, it was gone, and the impact of hitting the bottom was hard. I had completely fallen for Alison DiLaurentis, the girl that I used to despise with every part of my being.

"Em, are you okay?" Ali asked, concern lacing her voice now.

I nodded. "Alison, I need you to know… that I _love_ you. And I know that you think I shouldn't, and you think that you don't deserve it, but I do love you."

I was sure that I saw tears in her sparkling blue eyes. "Oh," she breathed out, like she was surprised. I carefully watched her eyes. "I love you, too, babe."

My heart swelled inside my chest, and I gently began to kiss her again, slipping my hand down between her legs.

A few minutes later, we were both standing in front of the mirror, making sure that we didn't look like we'd just been doing not-so-appropriate things. As Alison lightly fluffed her golden curls, I said, "I can't believe that I told you that I love you for the first time in a bathroom."

Ali chuckled. "It doesn't matter to me. You still said it, and that's what's important."

"We better go back to Hanna's dorm, before they start to get suspicious," I suggested. Alison sighed, and she grabbed my hand to pull me in for one last kiss.

"Okay, but I might really fall asleep this time," Alison admitted, and I knew that she was definitely tired now.

"C'mon," I said, unlocking the bathroom door and exiting with my hand wrapped in Ali's.

We got back and Aria immediately flashed us a weird look. "What took you two so long?"

"We were talking," Ali answered. That wasn't a lie, but Aria looked between us really suspiciously anyway.

"Whatever you say," she muttered, before looking back at the TV, which Hanna seemed already absorbed into.

Ali and I curled up under our blankets together, and I immediately felt Ali melt against me. I wasn't even ashamed as I felt myself falling asleep against her as she fell asleep against me.

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**I have a thing about bathroom scenes. A lot of you already knew that. ;P**

**Let me know what you thought of the chapter in a quick review, or a PM! Also, please follow me on Twitter at BrittzandTana ! Tweet me that you read this and I will FOLLOW YOU BACK! =D**

**I'm super tired and tbh I'm about to torture myself and watch the S5 finale of TVD over again... wish me luck and let's all hope that it doesn't kill me haha. Can't promise another update tomorrow, but hopefully before Saturday! I'll be super busy on Saturday, btw, which is why I'm hoping to get one up before then. I have a choir party thing :)**

**Some people don't ever read my A/Ns, and tbh it drives me crazy, bc they'll ask me questions that I answered in my A/Ns... so just, thank you to everyone who reads them. When you review/tweet me, let me know that you read my A/Ns so that I can know who the cool ppl are ;) Haha jk everyone's cool but yeah.**

**Goodnight lovelies! Please review!**


	26. Chapter 26

**A/N: So sorry for the late update! I have been so busy, and I meant to update last night, but I had to go sing at a football game, and I didn't even stay the whole time, like I left and went out to eat with my family and then when I got home I was so tired that I just crashed and literally fell asleep at 10:30 which like never happens.**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own PLL!**

**PLEASE enjoy, favorite, follow and REVIEW!**

* * *

"Em! Come on, get up," Hanna's voice echoed as my eyes fluttered open.

"What?" I groaned.

"It's like one in the morning," Hanna answered, rolling her eyes. "My roommate is going to be back soon. Aria's already back up at your dorm." I pulled myself up and looked around, my eyes falling on my girlfriend, who was still asleep next to me. "I figured you'd better wake her up. I'm going to run to the bathroom."

Hanna left the room, and I exhaled sleepily, looking down at Ali and running my fingers through her hair. "Ali," I cooed softly, "babe."

"Mm," Ali hummed, curling closer to where I was sitting.

"C'mon, we have to get you to bed before Hanna's roommate gets back and freaks," I whispered.

"Why would she freak?" Ali asked as her eyes forced themselves open and met my gaze.

"Because Alison DiLaurentis is laying half asleep on her floor," I answered. Ali's forehead creased slightly, and I frowned a little. "I'm just kidding, babe. She'll freak because she hates it when Hanna does anything. Come on."

Ali groaned as she sat up completely, and I stood, pulling her up with me. "Where's Aria? Where's Hanna?" Ali wondered.

"Already upstairs, and Hanna's in the bathroom," I answered, shrugging. We both left Hanna's dorm and headed for the elevator. "Do you want me to come downstairs with you?"

"Yes," Ali answered, grabbing my hand and holding it tightly as she clicked the button for the third floor with her free hand. "Were you awake the whole time?"

"No, Hanna woke me up a few minutes ago," I answered. The elevator doors slid open on the third floor and we started toward Ali's dorm. She opened it up, and I was surprised to see that Spencer wasn't inside. "Where's Spence?"

"I don't know," Alison answered, sounding as though she didn't really care. If she were completely awake, she might've been concerned. She collapsed unceremoniously on her bed, and I decided there wasn't a point in flipping on the light at this point. "Ugh, what time is it?"

"I think Hanna said it's like one in the morning," I answered, sitting down on the edge of Ali's bed and looking down at her. Even with her makeup smudged and a half asleep look on her face, she was more beautiful than I could ever hope to be. "I should probably go upstairs now."

"Probably," Ali agreed, but when I started to get up, she grabbed my hand, "but don't."

"Ali," I protested, but she just gave me a hopeful look. "I can't stay here all night."

"Why not?" Ali asked, raising a perfectly sculpted eyebrow. "We'll just sleep. I mean, we've already had a pretty eventful day. Don't make me end it all alone."

Now she was pouting at me, and it was probably one of the cutest things that I had ever seen. "Your bed is tiny."

"We can squeeze," she told me, winking playfully at me. She was definitely more awake now. "Come on, Aria won't miss you for one night. She's probably already asleep anyway."

I lifted an eyebrow and looked down at her, and she just stared straight back at me. I finally huffed, "Fine." It came out sounding a little angry, but she knew that I wasn't mad. She grinned at me and pulled me down next to her, causing me to laugh a little. "Shouldn't we at least put on some pajamas?"

"Mm, too lazy," she muttered, being incredibly cute as she buried her face into my neck. "Plus, you're comfy enough."

I found myself laughing a little. "I can't believe I ever found you intimidating. You're so cute."

I knew that Ali was blushing, because she pressed her face into my neck and mumbled, "No, I'm not."

"Yes you are," I argued. She pulled away from me and wiggled her eyebrows.

"I can be more intimidating if you'd like?" she said suggestively, and I raised an eyebrow at her.

"You said we would just sleep," I reminded her, and she crinkled her nose playfully as she cuddled close to me again.

"Goodnight, Em…" Alison paused, and my breath caught in my throat when she spoke again. "I love you."

I exhaled softly and pulled her impossibly closer to me. "Goodnight, Ali. I love you, too."

_AAA_

My phone rang out annoyingly from my pocket, where it had been shoved since the previous night, and I groaned as I rolled over a little.

Then, I found myself crashing onto the floor. "Ugh," I groaned, opening my eyes. Right, I'd been squeezed onto my tiny bed with Emily. Not that I would've complained at all if I hadn't fallen onto my ass.

I grabbed my phone and answered it without looking at the caller ID.

"Hello?"

"Hello, Alison," came the overly sweet sounding voice of Mona Vanderwaal. I immediately clenched my teeth as I pulled myself up off of the floor.

"To what do I owe this pleasure?" I growled out.

"Well, I wanted to remind you that there's a party tonight at Noel's family's cabin," Mona stated, as though I should be considerably concerned about this party. "And I'm sure you wouldn't want to miss it."

My eyes narrowed instinctively as I squeezed my phone in my grasp. "Oh really?"

"Yes, really," Mona answered. "You're hanging by a thread, Ali."

"_Don't_ call me Ali," I snapped angrily, and then I took a deep breath to calm myself. "If I'm hanging by just thread, why not just cut it? Why do you want me at this party, Mona?"

"Good point. But, the invitation still stands. And oh, don't forget, if you do come, you have to bring a date," Mona stated, and I could practically see her smug little face.

Now I understood. This was a ploy to get me out and surrounded by a ton of Hollis students with Emily. Well, I wasn't going to give Mona the satisfaction. But the bitch wasn't finished.

"Oh, and I really hope that you can come. Because, I sort of told like… everyone that you were going," Mona added. "Adieu!"

The line ended, leaving me in a state of horror. Mona had done the one thing that she _knew_ would ruin me. She had basically announced my RSVP to a party that I didn't want to go to, so that if I didn't go, everyone would start to get suspicious. But it was a party that required a date, and Mona was sure that if I went with Emily, everyone would judge me and I would fall from the top of the social pyramid at Hollis.

I couldn't not go, not when Mona had told everyone that I was going. No, I had to go.

I glanced at my beautiful, sleeping girlfriend. If Mona wanted me to take Emily to Noel's party, she would have her way. But I wasn't going to hide it at all. No, I wasn't a lesbian. But I was dating a girl, and I was completely proud of it. Plus, after the previous night, when Emily had confessed that she loved me, I was determined to prove my worth to her. Sure, she'd already said that I deserved her, but I had to prove it to myself.

Of course, I wasn't going to the party with Emily if she didn't want to go. Maybe I was a little bit whipped, but I had every right to be.

Suddenly, the door to the dorm opened, and Spencer walked in. I immediately raised an eyebrow at her. "Where have you been?" I was talking quietly, because Emily was still asleep.

"I texted you, but you were too busy with _Emily_ to notice," Spencer teased, rolling her eyes.

"Shh," I hushed her, glancing behind me at where Emily was asleep. Spencer raised her eyebrows at me, but I just shook my head. "What did the text say?"

Spencer's face now flushed red. "Well… I had a date with this guy last night and well… we went back to his place."

"On the first date?" I demanded.

"It was the second," Spencer said defensively.

My eyes widened. "Spence! Why didn't you tell me?"

Spencer shrugged. "I don't know. But yeah, that's all it was." My eyes narrowed now.

"Who is he?" I demanded. "I need to run a background check."

Spencer rolled her eyes as she tossed her purse onto her bed. "Toby Cavanaugh."

The name didn't ring a bell, but I made a mental note of it so that I could research him later. I really was protective over Spencer. I didn't want some loser hurting her.

"Are you going to tell me why Emily's here now? She does live two floors up," Spencer reminded me, as if I needed reminding. I rolled my eyes immediately at her.

"She just slept over," I stated defensively.

"Why?" Spencer asked, smirking at me. I gave her a glare.

"_Because_," I answered without giving a real answer. I heard Emily making a humming noise as she woke up, and I immediately forgot about Spencer as I turned around and sat on the edge of my bed, looking at Emily.

"Ali?" Emily mumbled.

"Mmhmm," I hummed out, brushing some hair out of her eyes. "Good morning, beautiful."

I heard Spencer snicker behind me, and I shot her a death glare. Then I looked back at Emily who was now smiling up at me. She slowly sat up and looked over at Spencer. "Hey, Spence."

"Hey, Em," Spencer returned, chuckling. "Sleep well?"

"I did," Emily answered, laughing a little.

"So did I," I piped up, "but I woke up and fell out of the bed onto my ass." Spencer instantly busted out into laughter and I crossed my arms. "It wasn't funny."

"It's a little funny," Emily argued, and I did my best to glare at her. Once it dissipated, which was almost instantly, I sighed.

"Hey, you doing anything today?" I asked, feeling my stomach twist up inside of me.

"Only if you have something for me to do with you today," Emily answered with a smile. I held my breath for a second, and she noticed me hesitating. Tilting her head slightly, she asked, "What's up?"

"Mona called me a few minutes ago," I answered, and I saw Emily's jaw clench. It wasn't often that she looked angry. "She told everyone that I'm going to Noel's party at his cabin tonight, but I never even knew about it. Anyway, if I don't go, it's basically the end of my social standing. If I do go, I have to bring a date."

Emily didn't seem to understand what I was saying, and bit my lip.

"So, do you want to go with me? If not, I'll accept my social suicide with open arms, but…" I tried not to sigh at the thought. I loved Emily, and I would pick her over my reputation in a heartbeat at this point in my life, but it still made me a little depressed to think of losing everything that I'd worked for.

"You want me to go with you?" Emily asked, sounding surprised. I tried not to let it bother me that she was surprised.

"Well, I don't want anyone else to go with me," I said, giving her a small smile. "Mona thinks that I'm going to chicken out of going because I'm afraid of people to know that I'm dating you. But I'm not afraid of people knowing that, so why shouldn't we go? We can show up that little bitch. Unless, of course, you don't want to go."

Spencer made a whipping noise from behind me, and I flashed her a glare before looking back to Em. "Sure, we can go."

I breathed out a sigh of relief. "Spence, you can come, too."

"Don't have a date," Spencer said with a shrug. I gave her a curious look. Hadn't she just slept over at some guy's house?

"What about Toby?" I asked her.

"He's busy today," Spencer answered.

"Take Aria," Emily suggested, and I snorted. Spencer rolled her eyes. "No, I'm serious. Ali might know a lot of people there, but I'm not going to know anyone besides her. You should both go."

"Hanna should come, too," I piped up, because really, I agreed with Emily. Also, if I showed up with my hot girlfriend and my real friends, what would that say to Mona? It would say "I'm proud to be the person I am now, and you can suck it, bitch". "I can get Caleb to take her."

"Perfect!" Emily said, smiling widely.

"Fine," Spencer agreed. "But I am not calling to her 'ask her out'."

Emily laughed. "I'll tell her when I get upstairs. And I'll call Hanna, too. She'll be thrilled at least."

"Are you going upstairs right now?" I asked her, and Emily shrugged.

"I can stay down here a little longer if you want me to," Emily answered, smiling a small smile. My gaze locked with hers, but before I could even kiss her, Spencer interrupted us.

"Stop eye-sexing each other," she demanded. I immediately shot my best friend a glare, and then I gave Emily an apologetic look.

"I'll see you later," I told her. She leaned forward to steal a kiss from me, and then she got up to go. I watched her walk out and let out a content sigh.

"What's got you in such a blissful mood? I mean, more specific than Emily?" Spencer asked.

I felt a blush rising to my cheeks, and I knew that as soon as Spencer saw it, I had to tell her. She gave me a pointed look. "Em told me that she loves me last night. And I told her that I love her back."

"Aww!" Spencer cooed, and I bit my lower lip.

"Whatever," I muttered, unable to keep a smile off of my face. "I'm going to go shower. I'll be back later."

* * *

**AWWW :) You guys will love the next chapter. Can't promise when it'll be up, but hopefully not too long from now. :)**

**Like it? Love it? Hate it? Please let me know in a quick review! Also, follow me on Twitter at BrittzandTana ! Tweet me that you read this and I'll follow you back =D**

**I would just like to note that 328 review + the 230 that I lost when this got taken down equals 558 reviews so even though I don't have all of those reviews here... I am so happy about them. ^.^ Thank you all so much for reviewing. Seriously, you take my breath away with every review/fav/follow and I love you all so much.**

**Have a wonderful day my loves! Please review :)**


	27. Chapter 27

**A/N: SURPRISE! It's only a surprise because I fell asleep earlier, then went to my acting class, and then had homework, and I told Sabrina that I probably wouldn't be able to update... yeah so it's not really a surprise but I'll treat it as such anyway.**

**I have a shoutout to give though, woohoo! To number 350... this is actually a really fitting shoutout to give anyway... SHOUTOUT TO USER badadadadadadadada emisonisON ! Gurl, you're so lucky hahaha. Literally the second review you've left on any of my fanfics, and you're already getting a shoutout. Some people review every chapter ever and still never get shoutouts haha... :P (If you haven't read her fanfic, do it now!)**

**Actually I lied, emisonisON got 349 AND 351 but guest reviewer Codzz got 350. Shoutout to both of you haha. And thank you everyone for reviewing ;) (The reason I lied was an accident- so really I didn't lie lol. I just got a new review and it took my computer some time to readjust the numbers so I thought that 351 was 350... yeah anyway, that's why I'm not withdrawing that shoutout haha)**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own PLL!**

**PLEASE enjoy, favorite, follow and REVIEW!**

**P.S. this chapter is sort of part one and the next chapter kind of rounds it off as part two... but I'm still calling them two different chapters bc I will flip shit if my story says "Chapter 28- Chapter 27 Part Two" lol...**

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"I hope you're not busy tonight," I said to Aria, getting a weird look from her as I walked into the dorm.

"Were you at Ali's dorm all night?" she asked me. "And why do you hope I'm not busy tonight?"

"Yes, and because we're going to a party," I stated. "Noel Kahn's party. You're going with Spencer. As friends, but technically she's your date. Hanna is going with Caleb. I'm going with Ali."

"Wait, why can't I just go with Ezra?" Aria demanded.

"Because Spencer's date can't make it, so you're replacing him," I answered as though it were the most logical thing ever. "Anyway, I know that Ezra couldn't have gone with you, because you would've had plans with him if he was available, right?"

Aria narrowed her eyes at me, because, of course, I was right. "Fine," she muttered.

"Thanks," I said, just realizing how nervous I actually was.

"What's the story of this party?" Aria asked, as if she could sense my nerves. "I thought we didn't like Noel?"

"We don't, we hate him," I confirmed. "And his creepy girlfriend, AKA Mona. It's kind of a long story, but basically, Mona is going to throw a fit when we walk into that place tonight."

I called Hanna to tell her about her date, and seven hours later, the three of us were meeting Ali, Spencer and this mysterious Caleb at the Brew. We decided we might as well meet out somewhere and then drive to the Kahn Cabin all together. Apparently, Spencer's car was big enough for all six of us.

"Hanna," Ali said once the three of us had walked into the Brew. "This is Caleb."

_Caleb_ was a decent looking guy, and despite looking a little sketchy, his smile seemed warm enough. Hanna immediately smiled at him. "Nice to meet you." They immediately started talking, and I turned to my girlfriend.

"Hey," I greeted, and she returned the greeting by placing a quick kiss on my lips.

"Hey, yourself," she returned. "Do you want a coffee before we head to the lake?"

"I'm okay," I answered, smiling. Ali grabbed my hand and turned to the others.

"We better go," she announced, and we all immediately filed out of the coffee place. Spencer led us to her car. It was a seven-seat, so she and Aria took the front two, Ali and I took the middle two, and Hanna and Caleb were stuck on the back three seats.

It was about a half an hour drive to the lake, and we all spent it talking about whatever we wanted to, occasionally splitting into different conversations. As we neared the lake, Ali looked to me with expectant eyes. "Em, I'm a little nervous."

"Why?" I asked, furrowing my eyebrows a little bit.

"Mona has been known to do some crazy shit…" Now I saw the nervousness in Ali's expression. She was worried about what Mona might try to do to her… or to me.

"I'll hold your hand the whole time," I promised her, sending her a wink. "Plus, you have all five of us."

Ali forced a smile, and then Spencer pulled up in front of cabin and parked her car. "Let's go!" she said, getting out of the car.

I took a deep breath—mostly because this totally wasn't my scene—and got out of the car. I walked around it to meet Ali on the other side, and she immediately grabbed my hand. I had had the tiny suspicion that she would become more distant when we got there, but as she held onto my hand as if it were her lifeline, I realized that I hadn't had any reason to worry.

The six of us approached the entrance to the property, and we were stopped by a bulky guy who I didn't recognize. "Dates?" Of course, Noel Kahn would have someone making sure that the rule was followed. And of course, that was because Mona didn't want Ali getting in without someone with her.

The guy was looking right at Alison, and she pulled me closer to her. "Yes, we all have dates," she confirmed, giving him a look that just dared him to try to say anything.

"Go on in," he muttered, and we all moved past him.

Never in my life had I really thought about what it felt like to be the center of attention. I had never considered what it felt like to walk into a party and have everyone turn heads to you. Not when I hated Alison, not when I started dating her, not at all. But now, I didn't have to think about it. It was happening.

Every single eye was on me and Alison, our hands clasped. I probably looked so lame compared to my girlfriend, but I tried to stand tall like she was.

As soon as we were in the cabin, though, we were in the clear. Nobody outside could see us anymore, and the people inside were too busy talking or dancing or playing games to see who had just walked in. Except for Mona, who saw us immediately.

"Alison!" she exclaimed, a big, fake smile plastered onto her face.

"Hey, Mona," Ali replied. "I decided to come, since you took so much time telling everyone I'd be here. And you remember Emily, my girlfriend."

Mona's face was almost unreadable, but I saw the conflict in her expression as she looked at me. "Yes. Hello, Emily. Oh, and Spencer, Aria, Hanna and… Caleb, right? So glad that you could all make it. Though, I'm not sure I remember inviting you."

"I invited them," Ali snapped at the shorter girl. The authority in her voice was something that I had nearly forgotten existed, but instead of being at all scared by it, it totally turned me on. Mona looked like she wanted to question the authority that Alison shouldn't have had in the matter of inviting people to Noel's party, but she didn't.

That meant that Ali had won, for now. Even I knew how these things worked. "Well, enjoy the party." Mona disappeared into a group of people, and Ali let out a breath that I hadn't known she'd been holding.

"I need a drink," she muttered, pulling me with her as she headed to Noel's bar.

We were sitting down at the bar a minute later, and our friends had disappeared to other places. Ali got some beer, but I decided that after the last time I drank while we were out, I was going to skip out on it this time. "I never knew what it was like," I started, glancing around the cabin and catching more than a few eyes on me and Ali. Our barstools were relatively close, and we still had two of our hands clasped together.

"What what's like?" Ali wondered, seemingly oblivious to the eyes peering at us.

"Being the center of attention," I answered, meeting her eyes and trying not to focus on the eyes of the strangers. Ali blinked, glancing around and sending glares at all of the staring people. She must've noticed it making me uncomfortable.

"I'm sorry," Ali apologized, and she looked completely genuine. "Maybe this was a bad idea. I didn't mean to pull you into the center of attention."

I gave her a smile, because it was sweet of her to say that. "I'm okay," I promised. "I just realized that I never thought about it. How the attention could affect a person."

"Are you trying to unravel me and my love of attention?" Ali asked, raising an eyebrow challengingly. I let out a light laugh.

"I mean, like when I first met you, and you told me that you didn't want to hang out with all of the people fawning over you, but that you liked the attention still. I just didn't get how you could love it and hate it at the same time," I admitted. "Now I do. It's like you can't tell if they're really all judging you, or looking up to you. Plus, I'm not used to it, so for me, it's a little terrifying."

Ali didn't say anything for a second, and then she said, "I would say 'you'll get used to it', but I don't want you to get used to it."

I tilted my head at her, confused.

"Popularity is great, but it changes people. And you're perfect, so I don't want it to change you," Ali admitted. "Sorry, that's me being selfish."

I laughed, because I found her reasoning cute and actually very touching. "Don't worry, I don't think I could become popular if I tried."

Ali rolled her eyes. "Of course you could. First of all, your looks are to die for. Second of all, you are _perfect_."

I laughed at her again, and her face turned bright red as she took another drink of her beer. "Flattery will get you nowhere," I teased, winking at her. Ali's eyes widened slightly, and then she just looked away shyly.

Suddenly, the loud blast of music that I wouldn't have ever willingly listened to in a million years stopped, replaced by a slower song that could be danced to without making a fool of oneself. Half of the people dancing around the cabin groaned and started outside, to where there was probably morel loud music, and the rest paired up and started to slow dance.

Suddenly, Ali hopped up off of her seat at the bar, setting down her beer, and extended a hand to me.

"May I have this dance?" she asked me, sounding like an adorable dork. My cheeks flushed as I took her hand and nodded. She pulled me out into the open part of the cabin that people were dancing in and wrapped her arms loosely around my neck, and my hands fell to her waist.

We didn't say anything, we just swayed to the music, and halfway through the song, Ali pulled me closer to her to the point that we couldn't see each other's faces. It felt good to have her close to me.

That's when I saw Mona, peering into the main room of the cabin from a different room. She seemed to be looking for something, and then her eye stopped on me and Ali, dancing together. I almost glared at her, and then I realized what this was. This was another test of Mona's.

So I sent her a proud smirk, and she glared evilly at me. One point for team Emily and Alison. No points for team Mona.

Mona disappeared into the room she'd been in, and the music suddenly morphed back into the loud stuff that was impossible to dance to in my opinion. Ali pulled away from me, a smile on her face.

"Let's go find everyone," I suggested, and we left the cabin to see where our friends were. As soon as we stepped outside, Aria and Spencer were bombarding us.

"Have either of you seen Hanna or Caleb?" they demanded.

"Um, no," Ali answered, raising her eyebrows at Spencer.

"Why?" I asked.

"We just can't find them anywhere," Aria muttered. Alison let out a light laugh, and I looked at her, curious as to what was funny.

"Are you afraid that people are going to think that you're actually dating Spencer if you're alone with her?" Ali asked. Aria sent Alison a glare, and Spencer rolled her eyes. "We don't have to stay here all night, guys. We can leave whenever you want."

I tried to fight the smile playing on my face. My girlfriend was super sweet, and I loved it. Aria spoke up, "Well, can we leave soon then?"

"You never have fun at parties, do you?" I asked her, giving her a pointed look. She knew that I was referring to Alison's party, when she was so insistent that they not stay too long.

"Look, Ali and Spencer might be used to these things, but I hate parties," Aria finally admitted. "I mean, they're fun for a little while, but I'm just not a big party person."

"Tell you what, we'll split up, find Hanna and Caleb, and then we can go back and grab food at the Grille," Ali suggested.

"I had some to drink," Spencer said, frowning, and Aria nodded in agreement.

"Luckily, I didn't," I piped up. "I'll drive, don't worry."

So we split up—well, Aria and Spencer split up and Ali and I stayed together—to find Hanna and Caleb. We found them making out in some random room of the cabin, and I caught the proud look that Ali wore once she realized that her pairing choice had worked.

As we headed for the exit of the property, we were stopped by none other than Mona Vanderwaal. "Aw! Leaving so soon? Not in a party mood?"

Her voice sounded confident, as if by us leaving early, she was getting some sort of win. "Contrary to your belief, Mona, we do have better things to do," Ali stated. "Not to mention the fact that this party sucks ass."

"Keep talking, Alison, while people still listen," Mona said, starting to walk away.

"Mona," Ali growled, drawing Mona to a stop, "you are awfully confident for a rookie. You've had power for what… a year and a half? Sweetie, have you forgotten who gave it to you?"

"No, I haven't," Mona answered. "But please, remind me anyway. Remind everyone, including your girlfriend and your new posse, how you're no better than a bitch like me."

Ali's entire body tensed, but she didn't let it stop her. I almost wanted to stop her from talking back to Mona, but I didn't. It wasn't my place to do anything right now. "Mona, you're forgetting something. Without your popularity, you are nothing special. All you do every day is try to tear me down and show off your newest bag and pair of heels."

"And you're oh so different?" Mona snapped.

"Actually yes," Ali snapped right back, not missing a beat. "Sure, I'm popular and all, but I have more than just that. I have real friends, and a girlfriend, who love me. Also, I can't remember the last time that I spent day after day plotting how to ruin someone's life, which is clearly your intent with me. So don't invite me to your party next time, or kick me out again. I don't give a _shit_ you little _bitch_."

And then she grabbed my hand, and started toward the exit.

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**I have no shame in the fact that I LOVE to write Badass!Alison... seriously, ahhh super awesome. You guys will love the next chapter I think. I'm really proud of it (I just wrote chapter 28 bc I'm behind on being ahead). I don't know, the words were like flowing out of my fingers without any difficulty and the chapter just feels more eloquent than normal. Haha I'll probably find a billion mistakes by the time I post it, but whateves ;P**

**LIKE IT? LOVE IT? HATE IT? Please let me know in a quick review or, if that's not you're think, you are very welcome to PM me whenever you want! Same goes for Twitter, where you can find me at BrittzandTana ! Tweet me that you read this and I'll FOLLOW YOU BACK! There's so many of you tweeting me lately that my following number keeps going up and I hate following over 1k people but I hate unfollowing people and I can't unfollow and my of my readers obvs so like I'm stuck. Trying not to get to 1.1k following lol. My TL is already confusing enough!**

**It's eleven PM omg... feelings! Haha last year I used to write every night from 9-11 and I would post at 11... that was back in WDCT and NLMG land haha.**

**Love you all! Goodnight! Sleep tight! Don't let the bed bugs bite (if I ever see a bed bug or a bug in my bed I will scream and jump out of the bed so fast that it won't be able to bite me lol). Please review!**


	28. Chapter 28

**A/N: Hey! Update time! Didn't reach the usual amount of reviews per chapter on Chapter 27... but I'm hoping we'll make up for it on this chapter, which I think you'll all like :)**

**It's late, so I'm just gonna skim over this and then post! No time for much talkin!**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own PLL!**

**PLEASE enjoy, favorite, follow and REVIEW!**

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We all rushed after Alison as she left through the gates of the property. She had released my hand as soon as she was off the property, but she wasn't heading back to the car. I could tell that she was fuming, and I saw her heading for the woods. We all stopped and watched her for a second, and then I took a deep breath. "Wait at the car," I said to my friends, "I'll get her."

"I can do it, Em," Spencer said, but I gave her a gentle but firm look that told her to let me handle it. I followed Ali as she headed into the woods.

She knew I was following her, because I wasn't making any effort to not make noise, but she just kept walking and didn't say anything. I didn't say anything either, not until she stopped walking. "Ali…"

She turned to face me, a look on her face that I didn't recognize at all. "Emily… you should go back to the car. I'll be there… in a second…"

I crossed my arms loosely over my chest. "Alison—"

"_Please_," Ali pleaded, looking at me with a twisted expression.

"Are you okay?" I whispered.

"No! I'm not!" Ali exclaimed, and then she took a deep breath as if to calm herself. "Emily, I don't want you to see me like this."

"Like what?" I demanded.

"Mad! Angry! Bitchy!" Ali answered, sounding exasperated. "I don't want you to see me this way."

I narrowed my eyes slightly at her. "Alison—"

"_Emily_," she growled.

"No, Ali, stop and listen to me for a second," I snapped, and Alison's mouth immediately snapped closed. "I _love_ you, Ali, and you said that you _love_ me."

"I do," Ali squeaked out.

"I know," I said, sighing the softest sigh. I stepped a step close to her. "How can we be together if you never let me see you when you're mad?"

Ali averted her gaze.

"Just talk to me, Ali. I'll listen, I won't even talk if you don't want me to. Just don't be afraid about being mad in front of me," I begged. Ali met my eyes again, and then she sighed, turning away from me and taking nervous steps, fiddling with her hands in front of her.

"She always knows what to say to make me mad," Ali growled angrily. "She always knows how to make people not like me. Sure, it usually backfires at her, but… _ugh_. I wish that bitch would just disappear!"

I didn't say anything.

"Even when we used to be 'friends', she always managed to slip something in to ruin my self confidence. I mean, sure I wasn't always super nice to her either, but I gave her so many chances. I don't even know why I did. I'm so done with her now… but I don't know how to get rid of her," Ali ranted.

A pause, and she finally looked at me.

"How do I get rid of her, Em?" she asked in a weak voice.

"You just did," I spoke softly. Ali gave me a questioning look, and I began to explain myself. "You did the one thing she was trying to keep you from doing. You spoke against the insecurities that she's trying to give you, proving to yourself and to her that you're more than what people thing. Basically, what you just told her was that you are the good guy and she is the bad guy. She might keep throwing weak punches, but here's the thing, Ali. You've already won. It's like when a state legalizes same-sex marriage. Everyone in the state can get married to any gender, because the majority of people have won. You'll always have those people who throw punches, but once you've won, they'll feel like pokes. The only way she can hurt you now is if you let her hurt you."

Ali just looked at me for a few seconds, and then she sighed. "How do you see so much good in me, Em?"

"You're a good person, Alison," I insisted, stepping forward to take her hands in mine. "You're just not used to showing it yet."

Alison sighed. "I'm sorry, Em. For not wanting you to see me mad. I just… I do stupid stuff, like yell at you or blame people for my problems. You and Spence are the only people who have really seen it, but I am really insecure sometimes. Not about my looks or anything, but sometimes I just don't feel like I'm worth shit. Like nothing good is going to come out of my life. One day, when I'm dead, people will look back at my life and remember my perfect hair or my snide remarks… but no one will remember _me_, because I'm insignificant."

"You're not, though," I argued, shaking my head. "You're not insignificant at all. Some people might remember you as the beautiful girl with a temper, but you know what I will remember you as?"

Ali gave me a look that begged me not to make her blush, but that just fueled my upcoming speech. I squeezed her hands tightly in mine.

"I'm going to remember you as the beautiful girl who showed me her true side. She showed me vulnerability, loyalty, honesty, compassion, and love. She taught me how to be confident, even if she didn't know it. She taught me not to judge quickly or come to quick, not thought out conclusions. She taught me that people aren't one-sided, and that appearance, both figuratively and literally, doesn't show the entire picture, even though one might think so. She brought out something in myself that I didn't know was there, even though I'm still not sure what that was. She made me feel more special than anyone else ever had, and she has encompassed my entire being with her love," I finished, surprised at how put together my words had come out, considering that I'd made them up on the spot.

There were tears sparkling visibly in Ali's eyes. She blinked, and one dropped quickly from her eyelash. She tried to pull a hand away from mine to wipe it way, but I held her hand firmly with mine and instead leant forward to kiss her cheek, and kiss the tear away. "Wow… Em… I don't know what to say…"

Leaning forward again, I pressed my lips firmly to hers. She kissed me back without any hesitation, and then I pulled away slowly. "Alison, please don't ever think that you're insignificant, okay? Didn't I tell you that wasn't true when we like first met?"

Ali smiled a small, adorable smile. "On your car. You said something like that."

"I love you, Ali, and I don't want you to think that you're just something that people remember more as an object than a person. I know for a fact that I'm not the only one who will remember you as a person. Spencer, Aria, Hanna, CeCe. The list will grow, too, I know it," I promised her.

"I love you, too, Emily," Ali breathed out, before pulling me into a tight hug. "I'm sorry. For ruining this night."

"Stop apologizing," I whispered into her ear softly. "Okay? You don't need to be sorry about anything that just happened. We all have bad moments. You may not have seen many of mine, but I'm sure you will, and you'll realize that you're not the only one who has them."

"How did I get so freaking lucky?" Alison questioned, smiling as she pulled away from me. "You know, maybe I do have something to thank Mona for. If she hadn't last minute invited me to her stupid party, I wouldn't have even gone into that little store to buy that stupid pink shirt."

I chuckled. "Come on, you still up for the Grille?"

Alison was smiling a sweet smile at me—one that she seemed to only reserve for me—as she nodded. "Yes."

We walked hand in hand out of the woods, and noticed that a lot of people were suddenly leaving the party. Mona's high pitched panicking could be heard even from the parking area outside of the cabin. "What the hell is going on?" I asked as Ali and I climbed into the car—me in the front seat and her in the passenger seat—where our friends were already huddled and ready to leave.

"After Ali disappeared, everyone flipped shit. The people who saw the thing between Mona and Ali started flipping out about Mona being a bitch and someone said that the reason Mona was targeting Ali so specifically all of the sudden is because she's dating a girl," Spencer explained.

"And _then_," Hanna started to continue, "that set off a lot of people. Contrary to what one might assume, this town actually has a lot of liberal people in it. Anyone who supports gay rights immediately started to yell shit at Mona and then they all started leaving, and people from inside the cabin came out wondering what the hell had happened. Everyone suddenly started coming out and before we got in the car, we heard all sorts of crazy made up shit."

"As if people who hadn't heard what happened had just made something up to make Mona look horrible," Aria finished.

"I heard one guy tell someone else that Mona slapped you for saying that you were bored or something," Caleb admitted, shaking his head slightly. "Someone else said that the party wasn't pointless if you weren't there, so there wasn't any point in staying."

"Wow," Ali breathed out, blinking and looking at me. She shook her head though. "Well, we don't need to stick around here. Mona and her business is not my business anymore. She can do whatever shit she wants to do."

"You're okay now?" Spencer asked, looking at Alison with concern. Ali met my eyes and I gave her a smile. She immediately returned it.

"I'm okay," she answered surely.

Half an hour later, I pulled the car up in front of the Grille. We all climbed out and headed inside, finding a seat for all six of us and ordering our drinks. We spent a lot of time talking about nothing as we snacked on bread and sipped our drinks, and then once our food came out, Spencer brought up an actual topic. "So, we have two months until this semester is over."

We were all silent as we waited for her to continue talking.

"And I think we should all go apartment shopping together," Spencer finished, possibly not talking about Caleb in this situation. I wasn't sure about his living arrangements.

"I'm down," Aria agreed, nodding.

"Yes, please. I'm not sure whether I'll have to bunk with someone else, but I am not staying in those stupid dorms any longer than I have to," Hanna insisted.

"I don't think I'm going to be able to afford one when school ends," I admitted, frowning. "I'll probably have to go back and live with my mom for the summer."

The table was silent for half of a second, and then Ali spoke, "Can you afford half of one?" She was looking at me with hopeful eyes. A small smile appeared on my face.

"Yes," I answered knowingly.

"Perfect!" Spencer exclaimed. "How about next weekend, then?"

We all agreed on the perfect time for the five of us to go apartment hunting, and then Ali excused herself to go to the bathroom. The look she gave me told me to follow her, so a minute later, I made up an excuse to go to the bathroom as well.

"Hey," I said as I entered the small bathroom. We were the only ones in it.

"Hey," Ali answered, smiling. "I just wanted to thank you for today, and yesterday."

"No need to thank me," I insisted. "But while we're alone, are you sure you want me to live with you?"

"Live with me? I was thinking more along the lines of you rooming with Spencer," Ali joked, and I rolled my eyes playfully at her. "Yes I'm sure. I'm so done with dorms, and there's no way I'm going to let you stay in them while I'm not there. Plus, I don't think either of us will have a problem living together. Considering we've both roomed with anyone at all for the past two years, we should be fine. Also, it's not like we need one with a _ton_ of space. Like, we don't need more than two bedrooms—and if we have two, we're only using one for an actual bed. Because I won't live in the same place as you if you're not sleeping right next to me."

"Yes, ma'am," I said jokingly as I playfully rolled my eyes again at her bossy tone. "Thank you so much."

"No need to thank me," she told me, sending me a playful wink. "It's not like there isn't anything in it for me."

I chuckled and leaned forward to steal a kiss from her. "Come on."

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**Vulnerable!Alison is even better than Badass!Alison :3**

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**Goodnight lovelies! Please review!**


	29. Chapter 29

**A/N: Thank you for being so patient lovelies! We're almost at 400 reviews... c:**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own PLL!**

**PLEASE enjoy, favorite, follow and REVIEW!**

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I woke up with a smile on my face on Sunday morning. Mona had totally stressed me out the day before, but after talking to Emily and deciding that we should live together for our last year of college made me feel much more relaxed.

This particular Sunday was going to be filled with errands. I literally found myself going to at least six different stores throughout the day, stopping only to eat and have coffee.

When I had finally finished my errands, though, I decided to stop by Emily's work. I figured that it would be a nice surprise for her, so I first stopped at the Brew to grab a couple coffees, and then continued past the Brew a ways and parked in front of the little clothing store.

I walked in, and Emily's eyes immediately locked into mine when she saw me approaching her. I loved it when that happened. Her dark colored eyes sparkling and shined, which one might think wasn't possible with dark eyes. But it was, and it made my chest swell.

"Hey, babe," I greeted as I reached the counter, placing my hands on the countertop and leaning over it to connect our lips in a quick kiss.

"Mm, hey, Ali," she greeted, smiling at me. "What are you doing here?"

"I was bored, so I decided to come see my amazing girlfriend, and to perform a coffee delivery," I answered, winking at her. "Why? Would you rather I not be here?"

"Uh, no, I am more than happy that you're here," Emily insisted, smiling sweetly at me, taking her coffee from me. "Thanks for the coffee. I've still got a few hours stuck here, though."

I frowned slightly. "I have some homework I need to get done," I admitted.

"So go do it. I'll call you when I get off," Emily said, leaning forward to peck my lips quickly.

"Mm okay," I agreed, stepping back. "See you later."

"Love you," Emily said, and I felt my cheeks blush.

"Love you, too," I replied gleefully, before heading out of the store. It felt good to be able to say that before parting from my girlfriend. It felt normal. I loved it.

"Hey, Ali," Spencer greeted once I got back to the dorm. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure," I answered, plopping onto my bed.

"Can we go out one day this week? Like, just you and me. I mean, we're best friends, but we haven't really hung out just us since you met Emily," Spencer admitted, and I frowned, realizing that it was true.

"Yeah, we really should. How about Friday night? Em and Aria and Hanna have their movie nights then anyway, and they don't need us there for that," I suggested.

"Works for me," Spencer agreed. "You get where I'm coming from though, right?"

"Yeah," I answered. "I hadn't really thought about it, but yeah, we only really talk and hang out together when we're here at the dorm. We told each other every little detail of our lives."

"So let's start that up again. Even after over a month of slacking, I think we can pick it back up," Spencer said with a chuckle. "I'll start. I went out with Toby earlier for coffee and he asked me to officially be his girlfriend."

"Aww!" I cooed. "Okay, before anything gets any further, I have to meet this guy. Okay? Seriously, don't go out with him again until I meet him."

Spencer laughed. "Fine. I'll bring him by your work tomorrow or something. Your turn."

"Okay," I said, searching my mind for something that I hadn't told Spencer recently. "Emily and I had sex in the fourth floor bathrooms."

Spencer's face twisted into a startled, horrified expression. "Alison! That is not what I meant!"

I smirked. "I know, but I wanted to see your expression when I said it."

"Wait, did you actually do that?" Spencer demanded. I sent my best friend a wink.

"I'll leave that for you to decide," I teased, and Spencer rolled her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest. "But here, on Friday, Em got me a necklace for a late birthday present."

I reached under the front of my top and pulled out the heart hanging on the chain around my neck. I had put the necklace on earlier, but at some point, it had slipped under my shirt. Spencer gasped. "That is beautiful."

I smiled a small smile. "I didn't wear it yesterday because I didn't want to lose it at Noel's cabin or anything. But yeah, she got it for me." _And then we had sex against that door right there, but let's not discuss that._

"Alright, so I know I said this wasn't what we were talking about, but do you mind if I ask about your and Emily's sex life?" Spencer asked, obviously trying not to be awkward.

"Ask away," I answered, smirking.

"So, I know you had that night away on Valentine's day… but like… have you actually had sex since then?" Spencer asked.

"Twice," I answered, biting my lip as I thought about Friday.

"When? Where?" Spencer asked, concerned. "And if you lie, I'll know you're lying. I'm asking this for your good, Emily's good, and Sparianna's good."

"Sparianna?" I asked, raising my eyebrows.

"Spencer, Aria and Hanna," Spencer said, rolling her eyes. "Now answer, please."

"Fine," I said, "but I'm going to be totally honest with you, so brace yourself."

Spencer's face formed an expression that actually looked like her bracing herself.

"After Em gave me this necklace, I did her against our dorm door. And then Friday night during Hanna's movie night, we went to the fourth floor bathrooms and she did me there," I answered. Complete horror flashed across Spencer's face as she looked at the door.

"Ali!" she exclaimed. "Okay, new rule! No sex on anything that I'm going to be touching! Ever!"

I raised my hands defensively. "It's not like we got anything on the door. We weren't like completely naked or anything."

"Okay, okay," Spencer said, shaking her head. "Whatever. Just… please… don't do that again."

"Don't worry, Spence. A couple months from now, and we'll be living in completely separated places," I reminded her, rolling my eyes nonchalantly. She didn't say anything, and we both let that sink in. I felt my stomach plummeting slightly. I loved Emily, and couldn't wait to live with her, but not seeing my best friend every single day sounded like a nightmare.

"Wow," Spencer breathed out. "I've gotten so used to living with you over the last three years. It's gonna be so different."

"Well… we're going apartment shopping this weekend. Maybe we'll find apartments in the same building," I suggested, hoping that would happen. The idea of living so far away from the one person who had stuck with me for almost eight years now made me sick.

"Maybe," Spencer agreed, smiling at me. "But you'll have Emily at least."

I smiled, because that was true. I might not be happy with having to leave Spencer, but moving in with my girlfriend sounded pretty damn good. "Yeah," I agreed, sighing.

Spencer rolled her eyes playfully. "You're doing it again."

"What?" I demanded.

"Acting all sappy. It's like after your first date with her all over again," Spencer teased.

I shook my head, but I didn't glare at her or try to play it off. Because the truth was, I was a sap when it came to Emily. I hadn't ever wanted that to happen, but I couldn't help that it had. Emily did something to me that I couldn't control. And I had to admit that I loved it.

"How does that girl have such an effect on you?" Spencer wondered aloud.

I shrugged, feeling a blush appear on my cheeks. "I don't know. But I love that she does."

Spencer chuckled. "Boy, have you changed."

I shook my head. "I don't think so."

"What do you mean?" Spencer asked, tilting her head and looking at me weird, as if I should've noticed my own change. And I did, sort of… but really…

"I don't think I've really changed," I expanded, before musing, "I think it's more like… Emily has brought out a part of me that I hadn't known was there. And now I'm more comfortable with that part of myself, and… I'm ready to let it show."

"Wow," Spencer said, stretching out the word, but sounding genuine as opposed to her usual sarcastic. "I think that perfectly explains how you've been since you found Emily."

"I really love her, Spence," I told the brunette and getting a smile in response.

"You better keep her then, huh?"

_EEE_

"Hey, Em! How was work?" Aria asked as I walked into the dorm room.

"Good," I answered, a smile playing on my face. "Ali brought me coffee."

"Aw, that's sweet," Aria commented, smiling at me. "And I see that made you happy."

"Of course," I confirmed, rolling my eyes at myself and my sappiness. I sat down on my bed and looked at Aria's computer. "What're you doing?"

Aria held her breath for a moment, and then she turned her computer toward me. She had an email open, addressed to a Fitz. That was Ezra. "What is it?" I asked her.

"He's graduating next month you know, and he got a job in New York," Aria answered, a sad smile on her face.

I searched her expression carefully. "And how do you feel about that?"

"It's an amazing opportunity, and I know that he wants to get out of Rosewood as much as the rest of us… I'm not going to give him an ultimatum. I'm just afraid that once he leaves, we'll fall apart," Aria admitted, dropping her gaze and looking defeated.

"Aria, relationships are supposed to do that. Sometimes they fit perfectly, and sometimes there's just one missing piece that makes the whole thing fall apart at some point," I told her. "And eventually, everyone has all of their pieces."

Aria sighed, and then closed the forwarded email screen. She looked up at me with a look that told me she was done with the topic. "So, do you and Ali have all of your pieces?"

I felt heat creep up into my cheeks. "I don't know. I hope so? Do you think we do?"

"It looks like it when you're together," Aria admitted. "You're always giving each other these loving looks, and sometimes it totally gets annoying. Well, not really, but you know… like, Spence and I make jokes like we're going to get diabetes from looking at you two."

I gave a fake laugh and rolled my eyes. "You two are dorks."

"So are our best friends," Aria added, rolling her eyes. "So guess what. Hanna and Caleb totally hit it off yesterday, obviously, and she spent the entire day with him today."

"Wow. Ali is a pretty good match maker," I commented. Aria shrugged.

"Guess so. I'm just a little afraid that she's rushing into this relationship so that she won't be lonely," Aria admitted, frowning. "I think we should at least background this guy. I mean, I trust Alison to a degree, but…"

"Sure, I can talk to him tomorrow or something," I told Aria. "I'll get his number from Ali and talk to him. Does that work?"

Aria nodded. "Sorry. I just feel like… she always watches out for us, and she deserves us to do the same for her."

I nodded in agreement, and then I smiled happily.

"What are you grinning about?" Aria asked me teasingly.

"Everything," I answered. "I never thought life could feel so blissful. We're all in relationships, we're all happy… we're all closer than we've ever been… it just feels surreal and… frankly, I love it."

Aria smiled. "I feel like in the last month, we've also formed a sort of… deeper friendship. Like, even deeper than before."

"I love you, Ar. Seriously, you're my best friend. I have no idea what I'd do without you. It's going to be so crazy not living with you after this year," I admitted.

"Yeah… but it'll be nice to finally get out of these dorms," Aria said, chuckling. "I don't know what I'm going to do about living situation, though. I can't live with Ezra if he moves."

"Live with Spencer or Hanna or something," I said, shrugging. "We'll figure it out next weekend. Right now, can we just feel all blissful and happy?"

Aria laughed at me. "Sure."

"Good. Because that's all I can feel right now."

* * *

**Yayayayaya for happiness! =D**

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	30. Chapter 30

**A/N: I don't have time to reread this... but please be nice if you find any mistakes, I rewrote this chapter like 3 times lol...**

**(400th reviewer was a Guest reviewer! Thank you all so much for reviewing! Means so much to me!)**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own PLL!**

**PLEASE enjoy, favorite, follow and REVIEW!**

* * *

"Hi, is this Caleb?" I asked as soon as the other end of the line opened.

"Yes," came Caleb's questioning voice, "who's this?"

"Emily," I answered, walking into my dorm. I had about an hour before my work started to just chill there. I would hang out with Ali, but of course she was in class.

"Oh, hey," Caleb said, though he still sounded confused.

I cleared my throat awkwardly. "Sorry to just randomly call you like this… I just… you and Hanna seem pretty close already and… well, she always looks out for me, and so I need to look out for her."

"I get it," Caleb answered, "but don't worry. I think Hanna is an amazing girl; I don't want to hurt her."

"Okay, just… she's more fragile than she acts and seems," I warned him.

"I know," Caleb said. "Thanks for calling, Emily."

"Yeah," I responded, before ending the line and sighing. Hanna was my best friend, maybe not as much as Aria was my best friend, but she still was. Caleb seemed cool, but he did seem sketchy, too. It wasn't my place to do anything about it, of course, but I just didn't want Hanna to get in too deep with someone who wasn't in it for the long run. I, for one, was big on happy endings, and Hanna was the same way.

Sighing, I plopped myself down on my bed and closed my eyes. I was in a really good place right now, actually. Despite the slight worry I had concerning one of my best friends, I was happy.

_AAA_

I sat at my desk, doodling on a notepad. My job was simple. Answer phone calls, greet people, and occasionally do tasks given to me by my boss. Presently, though, the phone was not ringing, the door was not opening, and my boss was behind a closed door with a customer.

But I heard the door jingle as it opened, and I glanced up from my doodles to see my best friend walking into the building, a guy in tow. I immediately summed him up. He was tall, relatively attractive. He looked strong, somewhat stern. "Hey," Spencer greeted, and I smiled at her.

"Hey!" I returned. "You must be Toby."

Toby nodded, but Spencer spoke, "We just dropped by because we were in the area…" The pointed look she sent me told me that she hadn't told Toby that I'd wanted to meet him.

"It's nice to meet you," Toby said, in a strangely gentle sounding voice. "Spencer talks a lot about you."

"I could say the same for you," I said, even though I had only really heard about Toby from Spencer about two times.

"Yeah, well, we should probably go now," Spencer said, and I narrowed my eyes at her as she ushered Toby out. "See you later, Ali."

I shook my head as they left. My best friend was such a weirdo. My gaze fell back on my doodles, and then shifted to where my phone was innocently sitting on my desk. I bit my lower lip, and then set down my pen to grab my phone.

**To Emily- I miss you ):**

**From Emily- I miss you, too! How's work?**

**To Emily- So boring. Ugh. The only thing getting me through this is knowing that once I have money from working, I'm going to spend it on half of an apartment to share with you! C; **

**From Emily- That's good motivation. :P**

**To Emily- Actually, it's excellent motivation. Though, obviously, I still can't actually focus on working.**

**From Emily- I'm almost off… maybe you can drop by my dorm tonight after you're off? Aria is going to be at Ezra's tonight.**

I quirked up an eyebrow and couldn't help the smirk that appeared on my face.

**To Emily- Sure, I'll be there ;)**

I let out a soft sigh as I leant back in my chair. I had to set my phone down, though, because the door swung open to reveal a customer. _Back to business_, I told myself, trying to push Emily from my mind so as to focus.

_EEE_

I was scrolling lamely through my Twitter timeline as I waited for Ali to get to my dorm room. I knew that if she couldn't end up coming up here, she would've told me, so I just continued to wait as I scrolled.

And then there was a tentative knock on my door, and I practically sprinted to it to open it. My girlfriend was standing innocently in the hallway. "Hey," I greeted her, smiling.

"Hey," she returned, biting her lower lip. I stepped back to let her in, and she sighed happily. "We usually don't get to hang out on Mondays."

"I like it," I admitted. "Can you imagine getting to see each other every morning and every night?"

Ali grabbed my hands and pulled me close to her, stealing a kiss from me. "Yes," she answered against my lips. She pulled away from me slightly, enough to be able to look in my eyes. "Maybe we can…"

She trailed off, lowering her gaze. I tilted my head slightly. "Maybe we can what, Ali?"

"Maybe this weekend, if we actually find something we want and we can afford… maybe we can move into it before summer actually starts," Alison suggested.

If I was being completely honest, the idea hadn't even crossed my mind. When you signed up to live on campus, they expected everyone to live on there as long as you said you would. But it wasn't like they could keep you from leaving for a month, and what was the difference between taking a month and a half vacation and just moving out early? I smiled at the blonde in front of me. "That sounds awesome."

"Really?" she asked me, as if she thought that there was a chance that I wouldn't want to live with her as soon as possible.

I grinned at her and nodded. "Really. The sooner I get to see you every day, and the sooner I get out of this dorm, the better."

"I love you," Ali said, before pulling me into her for a hug. I melted in her arms as she melted in mine. Still in our embrace, she asked, "Do you think Aria will be gone all night?"

"Maybe," I answered slowly.

"Can I stay here tonight, then?" Ali asked in a quiet voice. I smiled, biting my lower lip.

"Of course you can," I said with a small chuckle. I pulled away from her and smiled. "Do you want pajamas?"

We both went to the bathroom to shower and get ready for bed, and then we went back to my dorm. Alison heaved a sigh when we walked back in, and I looked at her with curiosity. "The bed is so small."

"I don't mind being squished if you don't," I told her with a small smile. She laughed lightly, and I rolled my eyes playfully at her. "We can buy a huge bed when whenever we live together, but we'll probably always end up being super close anyway."

Alison wiggled her eyebrows at me. "I think I can live with that."

Ali and I didn't get to spend every night together that week, which really sucked. Now that we were so used to each other, it was hard to not be able to share a space to ourselves. I kept reminding myself that it wasn't too far away that we would have that space.

_AAA_

The week progressed boringly, and it was mostly filled with classes and work and, basically, me being bored. I just really wanted it to be Saturday, because I would get to see Emily again. Usually, I would see her on Friday first, but Spencer and I were hanging out that day. And though I would miss Emily for that day, I really missed having quality time with Spencer.

We planned to do things that we used to do together all of the time. Firstly, I would drag her out to shop at big, expensive stores with me, and then we would grab lunch and gossip. Though, I didn't think we'd end up gossiping much. I was much to good for that at this point in my life. People tend to do most of their growing in their teenage years, but it felt like I had grown much more during the past month than I had in the entirety of high school and college.

So Friday morning, we first promptly slept in, and then Spencer woke me rather unfairly at ten-thirty. "Come on you lazy ass, it's Spalison's day to hangout!"

"What is with you and combining names?" I demanded as I groaned, rolling out of my bed.

"You did it first. Yeah, I heard about Sparia," Spencer told me, raising her eyebrows at me.

"How the heck did you hear about that?" I questioned, and Spencer just shrugged mysteriously. "Whatever. Spalison sounds like a type of spas or something."

Spencer smirked. "Get up, or I'm going to Spalison."

"Okay, now you just sound stupid," I decided, forcing myself up.

Half an hour later, we were out grabbing a late breakfast. While we ate, Spencer decided that another thing that we needed to bring back after not doing it recently was talking literally nonstop while we hung out. "Are you excited to look at apartments this weekend?"

"Yes," I answered, grinning. "I think… Emily might move in together before the actual term ends."

Spencer raised an eyebrow. "Well… okay then. You'll move out of the dorm early, then?"

"Yeah," I confirmed, "that is, if we can find one to buy soon enough. We might not even find anything good enough until summer starts."

"Ugh, speaking of term," Spencer said, changing the topic, "tests are coming up soon. Are you ready?"

I groaned. "No. But, I'm going to get Em to help me study, since she has the same tests."

Spencer smirked slightly at me and shook her head. "You and that girl. I swear, we can't have a single conversation that doesn't go back to her."

I narrowed my eyes slightly at her. "She's the first real significant other that I've ever had," I reminded my best friend. Then I felt my heart flutter as my lips moved, without my permission, and projected the words, "Though, hopefully, she's also my last."

* * *

**AWWWWW THAT ADORBSNESS!**

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***whispers out really quietly* next Tuesday (Sept 23rd) is my bday... :3 *hearts***

**Goodnight lovelies! Please review! c:**


	31. Chapter 31

**A/N: The next couple of chapters are kind of short and sweet, because I've been so busy that it's been hard to sit down and write a whole chapter, and when I write in pieces, it's harder to get more down. I do apologize. Hopefully things will start to pick up again :) I fully intend to update this again tomorrow, seeing as it is my birthday tomorrow ^.^ But I'll be out for dinner and also will be watching Faking It, so I make no whole hearted promises.**

**I haven't got the time to read over and edit this because I need to clean up my room before I go to my acting class, so all mistakes are mine!**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own PLL!**

**PLEASE enjoy, favorite, follow and REVIEW!**

* * *

Saturday found Ali and I crammed into a car with Spencer, Aria and Hanna, driving through Rosewood looking for apartments for sale. Most buildings we passed didn't have any vacancies, and when they did, the apartments were studio apartments.

We had almost given up whenever we came to some newly built apartment buildings. The were all part of the same area, but there were four different buildings. I hadn't known that they were building any new apartments, but it made sense, what with all of the high school students graduating and needing a place to live.

The only problem that we all found with the apartments was that they weren't simple, one or two bedroom, cheap apartments. They all had at least three bedrooms and two bathrooms, and their prices were way too high for even me and Ali to afford together.

As we roamed through the new building, I was sure that there was no way that any of us were moving out of the dorms by next year. None of the five of us spoke, and I could tell that we were all feeling that same way.

And then Aria stopped in her tracks, turning to face all of us. "Oh my gosh, you guys… why can't we all get one of these apartments together?'

My eyes shot open wide as I looked at Alison, who's expression was similar. "Uh… I don't think—" Alison started.

"Wait no, Aria's right," Spencer said, nodding enthusiastically.

"Yeah. Ali and Em can share a room, Hanna and I can share one, and Spence can have her own," Aria reasoned.

"Wait, why do I get stuck alone?" Spencer demanded.

"Because you have a ton of money, and so you'd have the biggest rent," Hanna piped in, shrugging. "It sounds like a good idea to me."

The three of them looked at me and Alison. We exchanged a brief look, and then we nodded. It was that, or being stuck in a dorm for our last year of college. "Yes!" Aria squealed. "It's gonna be so great!"

We had to get information on how to contact the owner of the apartments and such, and then we decided that we should all go get lunch or something. So we hopped back into Spencer's car, and she drove us to the Grille, which was a pleasant distance from the apartment building.

"I'm so pumped for this," Hanna admitted. "You all are happy to get out of dorms, but you weren't stuck with _my_ roommate for the past year."

"True," I stated, chuckling. Hanna's roommate was a pain in the ass. I'd only met her a handful of times, but she basically hated anything that anyone of us did that wasn't sitting, eating, studying or sleeping.

"Um, Em," Aria said suddenly, getting my attention. I gave her a curious look, and she nodded past me. I turned around slightly, and my eyes widened as they locked onto Maya St Germane. I hadn't seen her in years, and I was pretty sure that she went to college in a totally different state after she moved—back to California, where she was from.

She was approaching me, and suddenly, my stomach twisted up inside of me. "Emily!" she exclaimed as she got close enough to me. "I haven't seen you years, oh my gosh!"

I got up from my seat next to Alison to give Maya a hug. "Seriously, you moved, and I haven't heard from you since then!"

Maya shrugged. "I got into some trouble and my phone got confiscated, so I basically lost your number. And not on purpose."

"What are you doing back here?" I asked.

"Just visiting. I don't know… even though I only lived here for a year, it felt important to come back for a visit," she declared. "Anyway, what's up with you? You got to Hollis?"

"Uh, yeah," I answered, glancing at Ali.

_AAA_

I was waiting patiently to be introduced to _Maya_, the girl from the picture on Emily's Instagram. When Emily hugged her, I had to admit that a flare of jealousy rose up inside of me. I already sort of didn't like this girl. She seemed strangely carefree and open, like she would have no shame in hooking up with Emily after not seeing each other in years.

I tried not to think about that.

"I do go to Hollis, just about done with my junior year," Emily said to Maya, before finally turning back completely to the table. "You remember Aria and Hanna."

"Of course," Maya answered, giving them both a small wave.

"And this is my friend Spencer, and my girlfriend, Alison," Emily said.

Maya's eyes immediately locked onto me, once I was dubbed as the girlfriend. I gave her a sweet smile that I hoped Emily couldn't tell was totally fake. "Nice to meet you, Maya, right?"

"That's right," Maya answered, smiling an equally manufactured smile. "How long have you two been together?"

"A month and a half," I answered, before clenching my teeth. I didn't know how long Maya and Emily had dated in high school, but I knew that if it was longer than a month and a half, she was going to feel superior.

"Aw, that's awesome," Maya said, smiling a false smile at Emily. "Can I see your phone Em? I need to give you my new number so that we can talk sometime."

"Sure," Emily answered, handing her phone over to Maya. I tried not to growl, because I knew that Emily wasn't going to do anything stupid and she likely just wanted to reconnect with someone she hadn't talked to in a while. It didn't mean anything besides that.

Maya handed Emily her phone back. "Well it was nice seeing you, and meeting you, Alison. I'll talk to you later, Em."

"Yeah, bye," Emily said to Maya, before sitting back down next to me. I bit down hard on the inside of my lower lip as Maya strutted away.

"That was intense," Spencer commented.

"What was intense?" Emily asked. Despite my slight annoyance that she hadn't noticed, I thought it was totally cute how oblivious she'd been to the drama.

"The silent Alison versus Maya battle that they were having," Hanna told Emily, getting the brunette to give me a confused look.

I raised my eyebrows and my hands defensively. "I didn't like the way she looked at me, like I was _her_ _competition_. At least I didn't say anything rude."

"I'm totally on your side here, Ali," Aria piped up.

"What sides are we talking about?" Emily questioned, sounding utterly confused.

"Wow, Em," Hanna teased. "Maya was totally all interested in you, and then you mentioned Alison being your girlfriend and she got this look about her like she wanted to kill Ali."

"Really?" Emily asked, looking totally caught off guard. I nodded surely.

"Yes, she looked at you like you were her property or something. Seriously. I almost just—" I shook my head, because now I was feeing rage bubbling inside of me. Emily was _mine_, and no bitch from her past could come back and try to change that.

"I seriously didn't notice," Emily admitted. "Though, I'm kind of glad it happened."

I glared at her. "Why?"

"Because now I know what a jealous Ali looks like," Emily answered, winking at me and causing me to blush furiously. I narrowed my eyes at her slightly.

"Please. I'm jealous every time you're with anyone else but me," I stated, getting a sarcastic cooing from Spencer. I sent her a death glare and she just laughed at me.

Emily nudged me playfully. "So, what are we all doing for the rest of the day?"

We ended up splitting up—Aria and Spencer went to study, and Hanna went to hang out with Caleb. "What should we do?" Emily asked me.

"We should go somewhere," I said slyly.

"Oh yeah, where?" she asked, sounding as though she suspected me of something.

I bit my lip, thinking of where we could go. "Can we… can we go up at that spot where you took me on my birthday?"

Emily's cheeks flushed slightly as she nodded. She stood up from the table at the Grille, where we were still sitting, and grabbing my hand. "Come on," she said.

We had to call a cab to bring us back to Hollis, because Spencer had been driving, and Hanna had called to get a ride from Caleb. Once back at the dorms, we went straight to Emily's car, and she started driving us up to that spot. As we drove silently for a moment, I took a second to just think.

"Do you think we'll be together a long time?" Emily asked suddenly.

I looked over at her, surprised at the outburst. She looked slightly embarrassed, but I just smiled. "I _hope_ so," I answered. "As long as you don't ditch me for Maya."

Emily let out a sudden laugh that made me smile even wider than I'd been before. "Yeah, 'cause that'll happen."

"Maybe it will," I said teasingly. "Maybe she'll swoop down and carry you away."

"Yeah, I'd like to see her try and pry me away from you," Emily teased back, chuckling. I narrowed my eyes at her.

"Is that your way of telling me that I'm overprotective?" I asked jokingly.

"No," Emily answered, laughing. "Maybe it was my way of saying that if someone tried to take me away from you, I would be holding on to you way too tightly for them to do it."

I felt a small smile appear on my face. I really lucked out in the girlfriend department. Emily Fields was definitely my most favorite person ever at this point in my life, and I definitely planned to be with her for a long time. "Well, I don't plan on leaving you anytime soon, so as long as you don't plan to leave me, we should be good."

Emily flashed me a smile. "I think we're good then."

* * *

**Some of you know that I originally intended to have the girls move into separate apartments (excluding Emison ofc, they were gonna be together), but after so many of you thought that they would be living together, I started thinking about it and came up with some good scene ideas and story progressions, so I decided to do it that way. Also, many of you wanted to see a jealous Ali. I wasn't so serious in making her really jealous, but I thought it was cute to have some playfully jealous Ali. And ofc, love me some oblivious Emily.**

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**Have a great day my loves! Thank you all so much for everything! Hope to update tomorrow! Please review!**


	32. Chapter 32

**A/N: I'm hitting some minor snags in this story as I make a transition between two things, so the next few chapters may be sort of short. Hopefully, the snag will disappear in the coming days. :)**

**For anyone who hasn't seen it, I just posted a new Emison fanfiction, Can't You See Me? :D I think it's gonna be good, so go check it out maybe? :)**

**Also, remember that 450th reviewer gets a shoutout c:**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own PLL! HOWEVER, as of last Tuesday, I do own my own paperback copies of the first 8 PLL books :P**

**PLEASE enjoy, favorite, follow and REVIEW!**

* * *

"They should really put some benches up here or something," Ali commented as we got out of my car. I shrugged in response. I saw where she was coming from, but if there were benches up here, it would mean that other people came up here. And this was one of my spots, and I didn't want anyone to have it. Well, except for Alison, of course. What was mine was hers.

I carefully hoisted myself up onto the front of my car before seating myself comfortably on the roof of it. Ali watched me for a moment, and then she did the same, sitting right next to me. As soon as she had, she leaned into me naturally, and I sighed contently, my hand going up to her head and stroking her blonde hair. "Why did you want to come up here?" I wondered in a soft voice.

"I don't really know," Alison admitted. "I guess… I just wanted to be completely alone with you. Plus, it's nice up here."

I nodded in agreement, and we were quiet for a moment as I thought of what to say. Finally, I asked, "What do you think of sharing an apartment with Spence, Aria and Han?"

"I'm excited, honestly," she admitted. "And we still get out own space, so it isn't like it will be much of a big deal to have them around."

"We'll just have to make sure that we have a lock on our door," I hinted slyly, wiggling my eyebrows as I tugged lightly on a bit of her hair. Ali pulled away from me suddenly, but she was smiling.

"Are you excited?" she asked quietly. If I was being honest, I had been looking forward to sharing an apartment with just Ali, but that clearly wasn't an option. Plus, it wasn't like it was bad to share a place with all of my best friends and my girlfriend. If anything, I was freaking lucky to have anyone to share an apartment with at all.

"Really excited," I promised, grinning. "I don't know, it feels like things are too good. Like, I'm too happy."

"Em, I don't think there should be such a thing as too happy. I'm glad that you're so happy," Ali told me in soft, but firm and serious voice, before leaning towards me to join our lips in a gentle kiss.

For a few seconds, our kiss stayed soft and gentle, and it almost reminded me of the kiss we'd shared on our second date—at the movie theater. Especially once I pressed my lips more firmly to hers, and my tongue poked out between my lips. Hers parted without any inkling of hesitation, and the quiet moan she released as our mouths joined together made my insides flutter everywhere. Like millions of butterflies. Her hand rose and rested on the side of my face, before sliding upwards and then tangling into my dark hair. Meanwhile, my own hand rested on her waist and then slowly began to slip under her top. Ali's skin was so soft under my hand, and I marveled at how no one could compete with Ali's body.

She shivered at the contact as our tongues twisted together gracefully. Kissing Alison wasn't like fighting for dominance in a fiery passion. No, it was like us both working together in a graceful dance of a kiss. Granted, it was still full of a fiery passion, though. It was sweet, though, and beautiful, and yet so, so hot. I had never kissed anyone who could make me feel as good as she did. I hadn't thought it so possible to feel so good from a kiss, and even still, it had taken me nearly two months to even realize how good this girl made me feel. I was still realizing it more and more as the days passed.

I pulled away from my amazing girlfriend so that I could talk for a moment. Her now darkened, blue eyes met my brown ones, and she waited for me to say something. "I love you, Ali."

"I—"

"Wait," I interrupted, shaking my head slightly, because I wasn't done yet, "I want to finish." Alison nodded. "Ali, you seriously are the best thing that has ever happened to me. And maybe you've noticed that I have some doubt in, not you, of course, but like… life. I feel like fate is going to do something terrible to take you away from me. But… if that happens, I can't control it, so there's not a need to linger over it. Anyway, you make every part of my body wake up. I'd never felt so alive until I met you. Immediately when I first talked to you, it was like something inside of my woke up. At first, I thought that I really just hated you like I had thought I had… but it turned out that you are way more than I thought you were. You are deep and passionate and vulnerable and sweet and kind and thoughtful and insecure and scared sometimes… and I love that about you. I love your strengths and your weaknesses. Your good traits and your faults. I love them all."

Ali had tears forming in her eyes, that much I could already see. But since she didn't say anything to stop me from talking, I decided to round off my little spiel with a nice closing bit.

"I used to look at you and see so many things, things that I now never see. Now, I see so many different things, good things this time, that make me want to smile. You make me smile. The reason I feel too happy, is because I literally feel like I shouldn't be this happy. Like it shouldn't be possible to feel happy like I do. You make me happy, Ali, and I just… I want you to know that, because I think it's important that you do," I finished, before leaning forward and stealing a kiss. She kissed me back, and I tasted tears on her lips as she let them leak out. When she pulled away, she frantically wiped them away. I knew that she didn't like to cry in front of people, but the fact that she could do it in front of me made me smile.

"Em, I… I don't even know what to say. I'm so happy that I make you smile. I don't know if you noticed, but as soon as I met you, my like number one goal was to make you smile. After I saw you all mad at me about that shirt, I just wanted to get a smile out of you. And once I did, I was totally overcome by everything that is you. Seriously, Em. I'm not even kidding. I feel like you are literally my world… because you are. I literally _need_ you in my life. You're the air I breathe," Alison said, and before she could say any more, my impatient lips lunged forward to grab hers again.

Now, we skipped straight past gentle kiss and went straight to fiery. Ali dove her tongue into my mouth, pushing me backwards with her body. All thoughts of where we were escaped our minds in seconds as I leaned away from her to allow her to be above me.

That lasted only a matter of seconds as I found myself nearly falling headfirst off of the car. I let out high pitched scream once my lips were away from Ali's, but didn't find myself splattered on the hard ground below us. Ali had a firm grip of my wrists to keep me from rolling off backwards.

"Maybe this isn't the best place for this," she mused, chuckling as she pulled me up. I let out a laugh that I couldn't help. I thought of what it must have looked like—me practically falling off of the car while kissing my girlfriend—and my laughter increased by a tenfold. "What's so funny?" Ali demanded, but I heard her laughter starting to come out, too.

Soon, we were both laying over the top of my car, laughing our heads off. After mine started to die down, I forced myself to stop laughing so that I could just listen to Ali's adorable laugh as it died down as well. When everything was silent, I heard Alison sigh contently. She grabbed my hand and began tracing little shapes on the back of it.

I was about to say something to my girlfriend when my phone decided to go off. Alison sighed as she heard it coming from my pocket. "This is giving me déjà vu."

I sat up, giving her an apologetic look as I took my phone out of my pocket. Ali sat up as well, watching me as I looked at the caller ID. I bit my lip. "It's Maya," I admitted to my girlfriend.

"Are you going to answer it?" Ali asked. It was easy to tell that she was fighting a sharp insult directed at the girl calling me.

"Mm, no," I stated, deciding that Maya could wait. I declined the call and Ali and I laid back again, and this time we pulled each other closer together.

It was starting to get dark outside, and I couldn't help myself as I started to fall into a blissful sleep.

_AAA_

I broke out of my daze and realized how uncomfortable this was starting to get. Groaning, I sat up and looked at Emily, surprised that she had been laying there the whole time. Then I saw that she was asleep, her eyes closed. She was breathing lightly. Beautiful. I reached down and carefully brushed a bit of hair from her face.

I retrieved her phone from her pocket and saw that it was already six in the evening. Trying not to scare her—since it would result in a not-so-fun roll off of the car—I carefully touched Emily's face. She moved slightly. "Em," I whispered. "Babe, come on. It's six."

Her eyes finally fluttered open and she gave me a curious look. "Are we still on my car?" she asked, and I nodded, laughing a little.

"I'm hungry, let's go get some food," I suggested, grabbing her hand. She nodded, sitting up and yawning.

"Can you drive?" she slurred out. "I'm still half asleep."

I chuckled, nodding. "Yes, I'll drive."

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**AWH AWH :) I really wanted to bring that spot outside of Rosewood back into the story, because as previously said, that was the place that Alison started to realize that she liked Emily maybe as a little more than a friend c:**

**Likee? Please let me know in a quick review! Also, please follow me on Twitter at BrittzandTana ! You're always welcome to talk to me on there, and I'll always answer you :) Also, if you tweet me that you read this, I'll follow you back!**

**Fun fact! One of my friends that I always suspected was gay turned out to be gay. So far, this is the only success my gaydar has had. But I do feel rather successful for having always sort of suspected it. Yay me.**

**I have a horrible cold :S My acting class is in two hours and it's always fun, but I just want to curl up in my blankets and sleep, maybe then I'll stop sneezing like crazy. Going to have to check my temperature. Meh.**

**Have a great day my lovelies! Please review!**


	33. Chapter 33

**A/N: Hey guys! I have some news... Today I started Chapter 34 as though it were any other chapter, and it took me halfway through the chapter to realize that it was the last. No, I wasn't expecting the end to come this soon. I'm also a little bit bummed, because even if I add an epilogue for chapter 35, this story probably won't read my goal of 100k words. However, I know that where I ended it was the right place.**

**So here is the second to last chapter of Who You Really Are.**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own PLL!**

**PLEASE enjoy, favorite, follow and REVIEW! (Any and all mistakes are mine)**

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"Mm…" I groaned as I rolled slightly in my bed, and then I felt myself rolling into empty air. Screeching, I grasped for anything I could to keep myself from falling, and instead found myself pulling something—or someone—down on top of me.

I opened my eyes and then remembered the previous night. Ali and I had gone to dinner and then come back here. Aria hadn't been here, so we'd… had a little bit of fun. We had never meant to fall asleep.

Ali was wide awake now, pulling herself off of me. It took me a good few seconds to realize that she was completely naked, and so was I. "Oh my gosh," I breathed out suddenly. "What time is it? Aria could be here in any minute."

Alison realized the urgency of the situation as well and quickly grabbed her phone. "It's midnight."

"She has to be with Spencer, because I don't think Ezra is down here anymore," I admitted.

"I'll text Spence," Ali suggested.

"No, you put on clothes," I vetoed, tossing her clothing too her from where it'd been strewn on the floor.

Alison pouted. "Why?"

I gave her an "are you really trying this right now" look, and she just continued to pout and bat her eyelashes at me. "Ugh, get dressed, Ali."

"You know you like me better naked," Ali said suggestively, wiggling her eyebrows.

And then the handle on the door started to turn, and I practically screamed as I grabbed a blanket and wrapped it around my naked body. When I looked up at Ali, I was pleased to see that she had done the same.

By now, Aria stood in the entrance to the dorm with wide eyes. "Okay. Alright. Cool," she said, looking between us. We gave her our best innocent faces, and she just huffed and rolled her eyes. "You two really need to share a room soon, huh?"

"Yes," I answered, sitting on my bed and keeping my blanket wrapped tightly around me. Aria sighed.

"Well, luckily, Spence called the real estate company earlier, and they said that if we have the down payment, we should be able to close and move into the place in about two weeks," Aria said.

"Thank goodness," Ali muttered, sitting awkwardly next to me.

"Yes," Aria agreed, "but until then… could you like… refrain from… this?"

I immediately narrowed my eyes into a glare directed at my best friend. "Sex?" I demanded.

"No," Aria answered, shaking her head. "Sex in here. Just like… yeah."

Ali and I exchanged depressed looks as we nodded and gave in. "Fine," I said, rolling my eyes slightly. "But for what it's worth, we didn't mean to still be naked when you got back."

Aria raised her eyebrows slightly as she let out a laugh. Ali rolled her eyes, tightening the blanket around her. "Um, so…"

"I'll just… run to the bathroom and let you two… get organized," Aria said, lifting her eyebrows a little bit again as she tossed her purse onto her bed, turned around and left the room.

Ali huffed as she let her blanket fall from around her. Her eyebrows were furrowed in a slightly angry expression, but I couldn't bring myself to be angry while looking at her completely naked. "Great, now we can't have normal sex in a bed until we get our own room together."

I gave my girlfriend a sympathetic look as I took a step toward her. I wrapped my arms around her neck, bringing her closer to me, and then pressed my lips against hers. She moaned into my mouth, and then her hands forcefully pulled the blanket around me down. She tossed it onto the floor and pulled our naked bodies flush together. My body instinctively pressed completely into her, and we were practically one person as tongues collided.

A minute later, I pulled away to whisper, "We have to get dressed."

"Mm, no," Ali argued, grabbing my lips with hers again.

"We have to," I insisted, pulling away from her completely now. She was frowning, but she nodded. "Trust me, when we have our own private room together, I will never ask you to put clothes on."

Ali wiggled her eyebrows suggestively and we both laughed out loud as we grabbed our clothes from the floor and dressed ourselves. Then I started to make my bed and the door opened, revealed Aria with a hand in front of her eyes. "Everybody decent?"

"Yes, Aria, we are decent," Ali said for both of us, rolling her eyebrows. "Anyway, it's not like seeing people naked it a crime."

"Maybe not, but I'd rather not see you naked, no offense meant," Aria commented. Alison narrowed her eyes slightly.

"Plus, I don't think I want anyone besides me seeing you naked anyway," I commented, winking at my girlfriend. Alison bit her lip and Aria shook her head at us.

"Okay, now I see why you guys want your own place as soon as possible," the shorter girl commented. "I'm going to have to tell Spencer to close on that apartment as soon as possible."

"That would be helpful," I agreed.

"I better head downstairs before Spencer throws a fit," Alison said, frowning a little. "I'll see you tomorrow, Em."

"Yep, see you tomorrow," I agreed, grabbing her wrist and stealing a kiss from her lips before she could leave.

_AAA_

"So, what do you think you'll do with your degree?" I asked curiously, swinging my legs in front of me. I was seated on top of the inside of the counter the clothing shop, where Emily was working.

"I don't know," Emily answered, shrugging. "Maybe I'll take up a job like what Hanna's mom does."

"What does she do?" I wondered, tilting my head.

"She's like a bank manager. She makes pretty decent money from it," Emily explained, shrugging. "I really have no idea."

"Do you… still want to leave Rosewood after college?" I asked slowly, lowering my gaze from Emily's face and focusing my eyes instead on my legs.

"I don't know," Emily answered, suddenly grabbing my hand. She smiled at me and lifted up my hand, placing a gentle kiss on my fingers. I gave her a smile in return and she gently set down my hand as someone approached the counter.

"Emily! Alison! So funny that I should see you here at the same time!" My ears wanted to wither up and die as I heard Mona's voice. I slid off of the counter and turned to face Mona.

"What the hell do you want, Mona?" I growled.

"I heard you're getting one of those new, big apartments together, and with your girl posse," Mona stated, shrugging. "I thought you might want to know that I will also be purchasing one of those apartments in due time."

"I'm sure you will," I stated, rolling my eyes. "Here's the thing, we don't give a shit about what you do, Mona."

"Oh really?" Mona demanded, pursing her lips. "Maybe you don't, but what is sounds like is that you're speaking for your girlfriend. Things like that can kill a relationship, you know?"

I blinked, and could suddenly think of nothing to say. Luckily, Emily saved the day. "Mona, do you ever get tired of trying to be so superior? None of us are trying anything to demote you from your authority status. Not Alison, not me. Couldn't you just accept that, and then we can all just live out our lives?"

Mona glared at my girlfriend. "Look, until someone knocks _her_," she pointed at me fiercely, "down a few pegs, I'm always going to be second in authority. I want to be first."

I swallowed thickly. "Nobody has to knock me down a few pegs, Mona. You just need to rise a few more. Now, can you get out of here? There are people in line who actually want to buy stuff."

That was hardly true, but the one person who had just stepped up behind Mona had allowed it to not be entirely an excuse. Mona just gave them both a thin lipped smile. "Of course. I'll see you tomorrow, Alison."

I rolled my eyes, because I had class with her tomorrow, and so we would see each other. I was pretty sure, though, that neither of us were actually happy about it. Mona left the store, leaving Emily and I alone with the one customer waiting to checkout.

I didn't say anything as Emily politely rung up the blouse the woman was buying, and once the woman was gone, I finally spoke again. "Ugh, Mona always has to come ruin everything." I hoisted myself back up onto the counter.

"She hasn't ruined anything," Emily argued.

I nodded, but then I blurted, "Is it really bad that I spoke for you?"

Emily rolled her eyes playfully and reached over to squeeze my hand. "No. It would only be back if you spoke for me with an opinion that I don't actually have. Mona is just trying to get to you, alright? Don't give her any reason to think that it worked."

I nodded, because Emily was right, of course. "Hey, next weekend, do you want to go furniture shopping with me?"

Emily quirked up an eyebrow.

"We can pick a dresser… or like… a bed…" I wiggled my eyes suggestively, and Emily smirked.

"I think I can fit that into my schedule," Emily teased, winking at me. "Saturday?"

"Saturday is perfect for me," I agreed, before deciding to add a cheesy, "just like you."

A blush covered Emily's entire face, and I smiled proudly. I never grew tired of seeing her blush.

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**I hope you're all not mad at me for coming to an end in the next chapter... ehh... On the bright side, CYSM :P**

**Please let me know your thoughts in a quick review :) Or a PM! Also, please follow me on Twitter at BrittzandTana ! Tweet me that you read this and I will follow you back :) and remember that if I get to the 450th review before I finish this story, you'll get a shoutout c:**

**I'm going to save all of my sappy ending stuff for the actual ending chapter, which will either go up tomorrow or Tuesday.**

**Love you all! Please review :)**


	34. Chapter 34

**A/N: Yes... I'm a day late lol. My apologies. Got home from my choir concert much later than expected last night, but I am here now :) And yes... this will be the last chapter of Who You Really Are ... I do apologize for its shortness... Agh... I'm gettin' all emotional. I'll save it for the bottom A/N lol...**

**But first, lemme take a selfie! Lol jk, first, I need to give the last shoutout in all of WYRA... and it goes to my 450th reviewer on here... user... badada... Proprocrastinator ! Yay! Thank you all SO much for making this experience so wonderful. Even posting this chapter at 452 reviews, really I got like 680 (lol I'm including the deleted ones), and basically what I'm trying to say is that this story has flown beyond my expectations thanks to all of you amazing readers... oh crap... getting too emotional too early...**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own PLL!**

**Please enjoy the last chapter of Who You Really Are :) Maybe drop me a review afterward? c:**

* * *

"Um… I have never put a bed together before," I admitted, looking at all of the wooden bed frame pieces laying on the floor. "Aren't there at least like… instructions or something?"

"No," Alison answered, shrugging.

"Well then you have to help me," I decided, quirking an eyebrow up at my girlfriend. Alison pouted.

"But I don't wanna," she whined.

"Neither do I," I replied, rolling my eyes playfully. "But you know, neither of us could put it together, and then we just won't be able to spend our first night in our new apartment in our own bed."

Alison narrowed her eyes slightly, and then she let out a puff of air as she gave in. "Fine," she growled, and we both sat ourselves down on the carpeted floor to put together our bed frame.

After three weeks of buying the apartment with our friends, and picking out all of our furniture, we were finally here. Spencer was putting her own bed together in her room, and Aria and Hanna were putting two twin beds together in their room. I wasn't exactly sure how they all knew how to put beds together, but it wasn't really my problem.

"Do you think we can just look up how to put a bed together on the internet?" Ali grumbled after a few minutes of us just looking at the different pieces. I nodded instantly.

"Yes, let's do that. Or else us sleeping on a bed tonight will mean us laying on all of these random pieces wood," I muttered as Ali took out her phone.

We spent nearly that entire day, which was lucky enough to be a Saturday, setting up our room. After we finished the bed frame, we put up our dresser, hung up our huge mirror that we had purchased recently, and I even managed to put up our new wall shelves.

The last thing we did was drag in our queen sized mattress from where it had been leaning against the living room wall. We barely managed to get it into our bedroom, but once we did, we easily let it collapse into our newly constructed bed frame.

I took the liberty of putting new sheets on our new bed, and Ali took the liberty of making it super difficult for me by laying sprawled out on the bare mattress. And yet somehow, by nine in the evening, our entire bed was done.

Exhausted, I collapsed onto it next to Ali, who had already been laying on it as I'd finished putting our blankets onto it. "We finally have our own space," I said, smiling and turning my head to look at her. She nodded, smiling.

Suddenly, there was a knock on our door. "Go away," Ali muttered, turning and wrapping her arms around me. I couldn't help the grin that spread over my face.

"Just wanted to make sure that neither of you two died today," Spencer called sarcastically. "Also to let you know that Aria and Hanna are like passed out, so… no one will be bothering you. Yeah… so bye."

My face felt hot, and I was sure it was bright red. No one would have been able to bother us anyway, because we had already had our door locked from the moment I had started setting up the bed. We heard Spencer walking away from the door, and then simultaneously, mine and Ali's lips attacked one another furiously. There had only been one time that we had been able to do something in a big bed and not worry about someone barging in on us.

Ali hoisted herself up so that she was on top of me. Her lips sucked furiously on mine, and then her tongue pushed through my lips and collided with mine. Her hands were snaking up my shirt already. My arms wrapped up around her back and attempted to flip us around, but she wouldn't have it. She was determined to be on top tonight, and frankly, that did not really bother me.

I was the one, though, who grabbed the bottom of my shirt and started to pull it off of myself. Ali finally pulled off of my so that I could take it all the way off, and so that she could tear her own shirt off. Then she connected our lips again, and I busied myself with unhooking her bra strap. By some miracle, we had both worn strapless bras today, so they were easy to take off and discard.

By time our breasts were pressed together, all of our clothing discarded, and both mine and Ali's lips were sore, I was completely ready for my girlfriend to touch me. I felt her hand along my abs, and snatched it with mine. Then I pulled it down in between us, and she finally did.

As I let out a moan, I felt my hand instinctively pressing its fingers to Ali's core, and she gasped with surprise. We both drove each other up and up and up until we climaxed almost simultaneously.

Honestly, we hadn't had sex in nearly three weeks, because we had both been swamped with our finals for junior year of college, and because our friends had been so opposed to us having sex in a room that they lived in.

Ali collapsed next to me, and I could feel the light layer of sweat that was covering her skin like my own. "Wow… I'm never going to get tired of that."

"Me neither," I said with a light chuckle. Ali turned onto her side, pulling me closer to her and burying her face into my neck. I smiled as I wrapped my arms around her tightly. "I love you, Ali."

"I love you too, Em."

_AAA_

I woke up still curled into my amazing girlfriend, and let out a happy sigh. I could get used to this—waking up next to Emily. Smiling to myself, I carefully pulled away from the brunette and got out of bed. I wasn't wearing any clothing, so I was a little cold as I moved over to our new dresser. We had a closet in our room, so the dresser was only really for pants and shorts and socks and underwear.

I opened my sock drawer and retrieved the box in the back of it. Inside was a silver bracelet with four blue jewel charms and four pink jewel charms hanging in a pattern from it. It was my two month anniversary gift to Emily. Our two month anniversary had actually already passed two days earlier, but with the move going on, we had decided to celebrate it today. Well, tonight really. And I couldn't wait to give her the little bracelet.

After I was sure that it was still there and then well hidden under socks again, I crawled back into bed next to my girlfriend.

_EEE_

"Mm," I hummed out as I felt soft lips placing multiple feathery kisses on the nape of my neck. My eyes fluttered open and I shifted so that I was facing my beautiful girlfriend. "Good morning," I whispered, smiling softly.

Ali smiled back at me. "Morning, beautiful."

"Did you sleep much?" I wondered, wrapping my arms around her and pulling her body flush with mine.

"A lot," Ali admitted. "It's easy when you're right here. Really, it is. Like… I will definitely not miss sleeping alone… ever."

"Same," I admitted, smiling. I curled into the blonde a bit, sighing contently. "I can't believe this is real. It feels way to good to be true."

"Well," Ali started, "luckily, it is true."

"Mm, we're celebrating today, aren't we?" I remembered, my smile growing. Alison nodded enthusiastically.

After a moment of hesitation, Ali huffed, "Okay, I was going to wait to give this to you later, but I just want you to have it now."

She hopped up off of the bed and rushed to our dresser, obviously not caring that she was butt naked. I watched her as she moved over to it, opening her sock drawer. I smiled as I realized that she had hidden her present to me inside of her sock drawer.

My girlfriend was absolutely amazing. A lot of people didn't see that, but I did. Some would make assumptions about her based off of what they'd only seen a few times. Despite what so many people thought of her, though, I knew that I saw Alison for who she really was.

Loyal, sweet, loving, kind, vulnerable, daring, smart, deep. There'd been a time when I hadn't known. I'd been fooled, just like most people were always fooled. But no… I knew now. I did.

And as she happily came back to our bed with my present for our two month celebration, I was so glad that I knew now. I knew now that she wasn't a conceited, bitchy, rich girl who thought it was okay to treat everyone like shit. That's what I had once thought she was. Yes, now I knew better.

_Yes, Ali, I know who you really are._

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**"Tana... please... tell... me... WHY THE HELL YOU WOULD END THIS? THIS WAS LIKE MY FAV STORY EVER. YOU HAVE JUST TORN OUT MY HEART."**

**Yes, I know, I'm a terrible person who has ended a fanfiction. Now that that has been clarified haha...**

**I am really appreciative of everyone who stuck with WYRA through thick and thin c: It has been a bit of a bumpy ride *cough cough when the story got deleted cough cough*, and I am so happy to have shared the ride with you. This story definitely wouldn't have amassed to what it is now without all of you guys! I am so grateful to all of you, and not just because I like to have reads and reviews on my story, but because I am working hard to become a better writer and when you read my stories I get to have feedback. And feedback is like the most important thing in the world. Even when it's criticism. c:**

**I'm so happy that this story has made you all so happy. We've had a brilliant two way street going so far, and I hope to continue that with you all through my WIP stories (namely Can't You See Me) c:**

**It has been a pleasure to write this for you all. Thank you all again so much. I have made friends through this story, and tbh it feels like the WDCT of Emison for me, even though this wasn't my first Emison fic. :) I love you all so much. Thank you all for existing and taking your precious time to read and review this story. I will never stop thanking you. Seriously, when I publish my first book ever, I'm going to dedicate it to everyone who read my fanfics haha. Yes, I have just decided that and it shall happen now yas. c:**

**Have a great day my lovelies! Hope to see you over at CYSM soon... I shall update either tonight or tomorrow c: I promise! :D**

**Drop me one last review on this story? C:**

**(PS... THERE IS A POSSIBILITY OF THERE BEING AN EPILOGUE PUT PLEASE DO NOT GET YOUR HOPES UP TOO HIGH...)**


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